Gaming - Page 156

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney thinks that Fortnite's re-introduction onto mobile will lead to a "big shift" in its business as the game reaches many millions more people.

US courts recently levied scathing punishment on Apple for its non-compliance in the Epic v Apple trial. After courts found that the iOS App Store's fee structure was anticompetitive, Apple had been ordered via injunction to allow apps to link to third-party payment systems from iOS (instead of buying in-app, you'd buy from Epic via a web browser). Apple responded by throwing up multi-screen roadblocks in an attempt to deter users, even charging developers extra 27% fees in the process.

Now that the courts have intervened, finding that Apple willfully went against the court order, Sweeney says that Fortnite is coming back to iOS sometime next week. In a recent interview with CNBC, Sweeney says that he's confident that Fortnite will be able to capture part of the $92.5 billion mobile market to the extent that Epic's business will see "shift a lot."

While gamers await the release of The Wolf Among Us 2, which is reportedly still in development. The next best thing might be The Shadow Syndicate, which was recently announced for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC.

The Shadow Syndicate, developed by Colombian indie studio Killasoft, drops players in the paws of Sam Marlowe, a retired soldier turned private investigator who seeks to unravel a city-wide conspiracy involving secret societies, occult forces, and a looming darkness in 1930s Brooklyn.

The game promises a "rich cinematic experience", blending noir storytelling with fast-paced gameplay. Players will investigate secrets within the gloomy recreation of Brooklyn - interrogating NPCs, solving puzzles, and discovering clues, in a story that mixes vibrant city hubs with focused missions and side quests.

The prevailing sentiment within the games industry is that GTA 6 is a "big iceberg", and that publishers are merely small ships trying to steer clear. Devolver Digital, however, is taking a different approach: facing the industry giant head-on

Devolver Digital first threw down the gauntlet March 26, proclaiming on social media: "Gonna release a game the exact same day and time as GTA6.". The post reached over 2.6 million viewers, with Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson remarking, "Always thinking outside the box."

According to a recent post, the studio is ready and willing to enforce that promise. "You can't escape us," the studio proclaimed - and with that, the stage has been set for a battle of the titans starting May 26, 2026.

In a standout year for new releases, another contender is ready to enter the fray with DOOM: The Dark Ages, releasing May 15. Bethesda has demonstrated early confidence in the title, setting an embargo lift for May 9 - six full days before the game's standard release.

The embargo date has been revealed to content creators and the press, with publications gathering early thoughts on the title as we speak. The game, which has been in development since 2021, promises a notable departure from the previous games' playstyle, emphasizing brutal, medieval combat over its predecessors' traversal-based, run & gun gameplay.

It's common convention for AAA studios to lift embargos 1-2 days before launch, in alignment with standard media cycles. However, opening reviews six (four with the Premium Edition) days before launch signals high confidence from Bethesda, who likely anticipate strong critical reception and positive buzz ahead of the game's release.

Rockstar has pencilled in a concrete date for GTA 6. While fans will be left waiting another year, Kingdome Come: Deliverance 2's Hans Capon sees cause for celebration. After all, it could be Warhorse Studios' best shot at a Game of the Year award.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was released in February to universal acclaim, with fans and critics praising the title's immersive RPG experience. Widely considered to be Warhorse Studio's "Witcher 3 moment", KCD2 has been frequently thrown into the game of the year conversation. A race which, based on 2025's Metacritic scores, is shaping up to be a competitive one.

Luke Dale, who voices Hans Capon in Kingdom Come: Deliverance I and II, took to X following the announcement, proudly proclaiming: "WE'RE IN WITH A SHOT! GOTY!".

In celebration of May the Fourth, Aspyr has released its classics bundle, Star Wars: Grand Collection. Switch players can play through nine classic Star Wars titles, while PlayStation users can re-experience six classics on modern hardware.

The titles span from 1999, with Star Wars: Episode I Racer, to 2008, when Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released. The team from Aspyr Media has been working to port these titles to the PS4, PS5, and Switch since 2019, and the latest bundle aims to get the entirety of its works into the hands of gamers.

There's a total of nine games to experience on the Switch, including:

A Twitch streamer was sent material of MindsEye, a game developed by Build a Rocket Boy, a studio founded by former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies.

The Twitch streamer known as Agent was sent the material and played it on stream for thousands of people to see, with the footage showcasing the title's driving mechanics, graphics, gameplay, and some fragments of the story. MindsEye is published by IO Interactive and is scheduled to release on June 10 on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The release of the title marks the first major title coming out from Build of Rocket Boy, and it appears the title is at risk of going unnoticed in the plethora of gaming news, as the game is less than a month away from releasing, and the marketing campaign for it has been next to nothing. The links to the leaked footage have been posted to Reddit, where commenters are saying that despite the footage looking decent, the publisher hasn't made any noise about the title.

It was announced earlier in the week that Electronic Arts (EA) was laying off as many as 300 to 400 people in an effort to reduce running costs due to the current economic climate. Now, EA-owned developer Codemasters has confirmed it has been hit with layoffs and that development on future rally titles has been paused.

Earlier this week, EA announced it was ending its partnership with the World Rally Championship (WRC) and has now confirmed in a new statement to VideoGamesChronicle that it has "reduced some roles" at Codemasters, the rally games developer. EA didn't state how many people were let go from the developer, but did say that some roles are going to be redeployed as many as possible, "against our strategic priorities," which appears to be different areas of EA Sports.

It was only a day before this announcement that EA confirmed it reduced running costs affecting as many as 400 employees, including 100 employees at Respawn, the developers of Apex Legends and Titanfall. As for Codemasters, the exit of the developer in creating rally games marks the end of a more than 20-year-long run, which began all the way back in 1998. EA initially purchased Codemasters for $1.2 billion in early 2021, earning the publisher the rights to F1 and FIA World Rally Championship licenses, along with owned IP such as Grid, Dirt, and Project Cars.

The roadmap for the Assassin's Creed franchise has been leaked online, showcasing what Ubisoft has in-store for fans of the franchise over the next six years.

In an exclusive report from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, it's detailed that the next mainline Assassin's Creed game will be set in China and is codenamed Jade. The reporter states that Ubisoft is expected to release as many as nine new Assassin's Creed games over the next six years, with 2 RPGs, 3 Remakes, 1 "smaller experience," 2 multiplayer games, and 1 mobile title being in the works.

As for Jade, Henderson writes that Ubisoft is intending to release a new mainline Assassin's Creed RPG game every 2-3 years, with remakes and "smaller experiences" sprinkled in between the mainline releases. If this timeline stays true, we could see the Assassin's Creed Jade at the earliest, in 2027. Additionally, Henderson adds that the release timeline was shaken up by the delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Following the next mainline Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft is slated to release a title codenamed "Invictus," which is an Assassin's Creed game inspired by Fall Guys.

The Assassin's Creed franchise has found itself in a peculiar spot after developer Ubisoft has seen incredibly lackluster support for its newly released titles, along with a rocky launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows that was plagued with tumultuous marketing and delays.

Following the launch of Shadows, Ubisoft entered into a new partnership with Tencent to manage its top IPs, such as the Assassin's Creed franchise, and now we are hearing about what the developer has in store for the franchise in the future. In a new exclusive report from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, Ubisoft has multiple Assassin's Creed projects in the works, specifically what will happen with the franchise over the next six years.

Ubisoft has planned nine new Assassin's Creed games over the next six years, and not all of them are traditional Assassin's Creed experiences. Some are multiplayer, some are remakes, and others are "smaller experiences." As for mainline Assassin's Creed games, the report states Ubisoft intends to release a new mainline title every 2-3 years, with these remakes and smaller experiences littered in between the launches of the mainline titles. Below is what Ubisoft has in the works, with most of the titles being codenamed. The following is generally in order of release.

Bandai Namco has officially lifted the veil on Elden Ring: Nightreign, only a few weeks out from its release, with the publisher dropping a 10-minute-long overview trailer showcasing an in-depth look at what players can expect.

The trailer kicks off by explaining players will have three in-game days to prepare for a coming boss battle, and during that time, players will have to decide what route they want to take to gear up for the big battle. The trailer says players will need to decide whether to split up and explore by themselves or as a group.

Pre-planning will be challenging as each run of Nightreign, which takes players to a place called Limveld, will be different from the last, as players will encounter random bosses, fluctuations in boss placement, environmental damage such as meteor strikes, and loot being consistently different from run to run.

TikTok has been fined more than half a billion dollars over allegations of illegal data practices, including funneling user data back to China.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has put TikTok in its iron sights as the prominent video platform has been slapped with a 530 million euro, approximately $600 million, fine, as the regulatory body claims TikTok cannot guarantee user data is being stored per the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines. Moreover, the DPC states that TikTok admitted to storing limited European data in China, which the social video platform has denied in the past. TikTok has since informed the DPC it has deleted that data.

The fines against TikTok from the Irish data protection authority could certainly be damaging to the company, which is still fighting to stay within the United States. For those who don't know, TikTok was banned in the US for being a potential national security risk. US authorities were concerned that TikTok could be used as a surveillance app for China to spy on Americans, considering TikTok's owner, ByteDance, is a Chinese government-affiliated company.

In late April, PlayStation unveiled the Collector's Edition for the upcoming sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yōtei, where it described the edition as the "best Collector's Edition we've ever produced."

For $250, buyers of the Collector's Edition will get all of the pre-order bonuses, including all in-game items from the digital deluxe edition, along with a digital copy of the game. That last point is a particular point of contention among collectors, as PlayStation is shipping this collector's edition with a digital copy rather than a physical copy, which many buyers of collector's editions aren't very fond of in general.

This means if a video game collector wanted everything from the Ghost of Yōtei, and most importantly, add another physical game to their wall of collected games, they will have to spend $250 on the Collector's Edition, and then buy the physical edition of the game separately. Unfortunately for collectors, this seems to be the common practice for new first-party Sony titles, as the same approach was taken with Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and will be the case for the upcoming Death Stranding 2.

Microsoft has increased the prices of its Xbox consoles, accessories, and games across different regions to account for the newly implemented trade tariffs introduced by President Trump. Now, an industry analyst is predicting that Sony could follow suit.

Xbox is raising the price of Xbox consoles and controllers globally, beginning sometime this Holiday season, with the US seeing the steepest price increases for the Xbox Series X console of $100 to $599.99 and the base Series S model increasing by $80 to $429.99. Additionally, prices of games have increased by $10, breaking the standard $70 and moving first-party Xbox titles to the new standard of $80. This news from Xbox comes after PlayStation announced it was increasing the price of its digital PS5 console in the UK, Europe, and Australia.

Daniel Ahmad, Niko Partners analyst, has now predicted Sony won't escape the impact of the tariffs and will likely follow Xbox in raising the price of its console in the US, along with its first-party games. The reason? Same as Xbox, manufacturing costs increasing, cost of game development increasing, and global market conditions eating into profit margins that need to stay at similar levels to appease shareholders. As for Nintendo, the company hasn't yet raised prices as a large portion of the Switch 2 stockpile is being manufactured in Vietnam.

In a recent X post, Ubisoft Brazil hinted at ports for Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin's Creed: Mirage on the Switch 2, utilizing a graphic that features the two titles alongside Star Wars: Outlaws and the all-but-confirmed Assassin's Creed: Shadows.

The post, translated from Portuguese, asks: "Which Ubisoft game would you like to play on the Nintendo Switch 2?" The author begins by suggesting Rayman Legends - a title already available through Switch 1's backwards compatibility. However, the graphic of choice, which features the four games imposed on a Switch 2 device, strongly hints at official ports for Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin's Creed: Mirage.

Star Wars: Outlaws was confirmed to be arriving on the Switch 2 in an official blog post on April 3. While Assassin's Creed: Shadows has not been formally announced for the Switch 2, ratings and website elements were sighted on the PEGI website a fortnight ago - suggesting that it's only a matter of time before the flagship title is adapted for the platform.

Rockstar Games has officially delayed the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, and now we are hearing that even the developers at the studio didn't believe the game was going to release in its original release window of Fall 2025.

In a recent post on Bluesky, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier revealed that Rockstar's official delay isn't shocking even for developers at the company. The reporter said that no one he has spoken to at Rockstar has believed that Fall 2025 was a "real window for a very long time now." The reason? Simply, too much work, not enough time, and a "real desire from management to avoid brutal crunch." The Bloomberg reporter goes on to write that GTA 6's delay has "seemed inevitable for months if not longer."

The official delay of GTA 6 to May 26, 2026, has been followed by a statement by Rockstar Games' publisher Take-Two Interactive, which Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two said in a recent statement that the publisher "fully supports" Rockstar's decision to delay the release to fulfill it's creative vision for GTA 6.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, has responded to Rockstar Games' recent announcement delaying the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Rockstar Games has officially unveiled the release date for Grand Theft Auto 6, and while fans of the franchise are eager to know when it will be released, the news comes as bittersweet as we do now have a release date, but it's six months later than originally planned. GTA 6 is now releasing on May 26, 2026, with Rockstar stating in a recent announcement, "We need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve."

On the heels of the Rockstar announcement is a statement from Take-Two Interactive Chairman and CEO, Strauss Zelnick, who said the publisher "fully supports" the decision to take additional time to complete the development of GTA 6 and fully realize Rockstar's intended creative vision. Moreover, Zelnick said GTA 6 is promised to be a "groundbreaking, blockbuster entertainment experience that exceeds audience expectations."

BREAKING: Rockstar Games officially confirms that GTA 6 has been delayed to May 2026.

GTA 6 will not release in 2025, Rockstar Games has announced. The highly anticipated sequel is now due out on May 26, 2026, the developer said on the Rockstar Newswire. This puts Grand Theft Auto 6 firmly in Take-Two's FY27 period, which runs from April 1, 2026 - March 31, 2027.

Take-Two Interactive shares dropped as much as 16% after the announcement.

With the release of TES IV: Oblivion Remastered, and Skyblivion on the horizon, 2025 is shaping up to be a fantastic year for Elder Scrolls fans. To add fuel to the fire, the team from Tamriel Rebuilt has completed a large content expansion for TES 3: Morrowind - Grasping Fortune - which released yesterday.

For context, Tamriel Rebuilt is an expansion project that's been in development since 2001. It aims to recreate the entire mainland of the Morrowind province (outside the base game's setting of Vvardenfell) in Morrowind's game engine, with new regions released incrementally in each major update. Lore accuracy is a huge emphasis for the volunteer project, drawing directly from Bethesda's official materials, in-game books, and dev notes for each of its expansions.

The latest update, entitled Grapsing Fortune, introduces Narsis - the capital of House Hlaalu. Grasping Fortune represents one of the biggest leaps in scale in the project's history - adding over 270 new quests, 140 dungeons, 2,500+ unique NPCs, and 410 new map cells.

Larian Studios has officially closed the door on new content updates for its universally acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3, and has since commenced a hiring push for its new dedicated storytelling department.

The announcement, posted by the studio's official X account and shared by its director of publishing, calls for new talent to assist with "concocting tales, complete with world-building and pronunciation guides" for its next two RPG projects.

While little information is available regarding the new projects, it's been confirmed that the titles won't take place in the Baldur's Gate universe. As you'd expect from Larian, the two "very ambitious" RPGs will stick to the studio's DNA, focusing heavily on immersive worldbuilding, roleplaying, and storytelling.