Gaming - Page 48

An official document from Rockstar North has revealed the studio has spent over $2.1 billion on salaries since 2019, which will make the production costs for Grand Theft Auto far higher than previously expected.

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 has been in pre-production since around 2018, shortly after the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, and "in earnest" development began in 2020, according to Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

According to official government documentation pulled from Rockstar's financial statements, Rockstar North has spent over $2.1 billion on salaries and wages since 2019, and by the time that Grand Theft Auto 6 releases in November this year, the studio will have spent an estimated $3 billion in total.

According to new information from two credible sources on Nintendo, Nate the Hate and VGC, the company is planning to bring back a few iconic games from the Nintendo 64 era later this year. The first game set to hit the Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to arrive as early as this summer, with Nintendo reportedly putting the final touches on a brand-new game in the Star Fox series.

Star Fox from the SNES and Star Fox 64 for the N64 are considered classics for their focus on arcade-style action and on-rails shooting, featuring a colorful cast of anthropomorphic characters. The last proper entry in the series, Star Fox Zero, saw Nintendo collaborate with PlatinumGames to deliver a game that received a relatively disappointing Metacritic score of 69 out of 100.

According to Nate the Hate, the new Star Fox game coming in 2026 will be more like the SNES and N64 games, with modern visuals and online multiplayer. As for the second iconic return, with The Legend of Zelda series celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Nintendo is reportedly prepping to release a full, built-from-the-ground-up remake of one of the N64's most beloved games.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney will step in and help a distinctly tragic situation affecting a laid off employee who has terminal brain cancer and no life insurance after the company eliminated his role at the group.

Epic Games recently laid off 1,000 workers, earning the ire from industry developers and gamers alike. One of the people affected by the recent layoffs was Mike Prinke, a terminal cancer patient whose life insurance policy was in dangerous jeopardy. Jenni Griffin, Mike's wife, shared the tragic story on Facebook, outlining the stress and fear that their family now faces as a result of the layoff.

"Because of the layoff, we didn't just lose income-we lost his life insurance. And because his condition is now considered a pre-existing condition, he can't get new coverage," Griffin said.

Japanese games-maker Square Enix has announced a dynamic duo team up with Google's AI division, Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reports.

Square Enix is teaming up with Google to add a new AI companion into Dragon Quest X, allowing real-time hints, tips, and tricks for users.

The publisher will add a special new conversational AI companion into its popular MMORPG Dragon Quest X that's powered by Google's Gemini AI chatbot. It'll take the form of an in-game slime character, aka a special "Chatty Slimey" NPC, and players can ask it questions to get glean valuable info and help. The AI-powered slime will also have voiced dialog, and may be able to contextually speak on its own based on what's happening.

CD Projekt saw a record-breaking 60% profit margin throughout 2025, driven by full game sales and high-margin subscription deals.

It's not easy making continued profits in the video games industry, but CD Projekt has managed to pull off an astronomically high 60% profit margin for the full year of 2025.

In a new earnings report, company management highlights the numbers, with management explaining that the results were mostly due to the lucrative royalties from The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 being included on PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass.

New reports say that the anticipated Final Fantasy 9 Remake remains shelved for the time being as Square Enix focuses on other projects, including the third FF7 Remake chapter 3 as well as Dragon Quest XII and Kingdom Hearts IV.

Originally unearthed in the GeForce Now leak of 2021, Square Enix's FF9 Remake has remained shrouded in mystery. Last year was a good opportunity to reveal the project, as 2025 marked the 25th anniversary of the original game.

New reports say that the project has been put in cold storage, potentially to be resurrected for later use. Sources have told gaming YouTuber NateTheHate that the Final Fantasy 9 Remake is "on ice" for now.

A new leak points to a cheaper Game Pass option that could be a ray of hope for Xbox gamers amid rising gaming costs. The possible new tier would focus exclusively on first-party titles, with games such as Halo 5, Fallout 76, and DOOM Eternal potentially included. This comes on the heels of recent price hikes on the existing Game Pass tiers, which have pushed many users away from the subscription. Microsoft may be looking to change that.

According to a data mining leak from @redphx on X, Microsoft is reportedly working on a new program codenamed "TRION" or "TRITON." What sets it apart from existing tiers is that it would include only games from Xbox Game Studios, rather than the mixed catalog available now. Here's the full list of titles in the leaked Game Pass tier:

The new tier is likely targeting Xbox gamers who are only interested in its first-party titles, since many have been asking for such a program for a long time. The exact pricing for this leaked Game Pass tier also remains unknown, but many believe Microsoft could introduce it as an ad-supported or low-cost subscription. Since a first-party only approach theoretically eliminates licensing costs, it could allow Microsoft to offer the tier at a price point that works for casual players.

Bethesda is retiring its free-to-play Elder Scrolls Blades in June, and has already delisted the game from Switch, iOS, and Android.

The unpopular Elder Scrolls Blades has been removed from all storefronts and is no longer available to download. Bethesda announced that the free-to-play game will also be pulled offline on June 30, 2026, and from then on will no longer be able to be accessed.

As a farewell to players, the studio has opened up the floodgates to Blades' microtransaction storefront, reducing the costs of all items while giving users a batch of free currency.

Spiders Studio, the team behind RPGs like The Technomancer and Greedfall, is now up for sale as its parent Nacon goes through French insolvency proceedings.

Nacon is currently in financial trouble. The company missed a payment on one of its debts, and has filed for insolvency in French courts--a process that involves the group restructuring and essentially divesting parts of itself in an effort to stay afloat.

As part of this process, Spiders Studio, one of the subsidiary game development studios that Nacon owns, has been put up for sale. A filing on the ASPAJ website gives key stats about Spiders, showing that the studio currently has 75 employees and revenues that are "less than or equal to 1 million Euros," however, this is unclear whether or not this is on a quarterly or annual basis.

Microsoft's Xbox has made some questionable marketing decisions lately, and new CEO Asha Sharma is trying her best to clean up the mess left behind. Following a report earlier this week suggesting she was quietly trying to scrub the controversial "This is an Xbox" campaign from the internet, a Microsoft spokesperson has now confirmed it officially.

The anonymous spokesperson confirmed to Windows Central that the company is putting the towel on the controversial marketing campaign. Sharma ended it because it "didn't feel like Xbox," and is now "personally leading a reset of how we show up as a brand."

For those who haven't been following it, Xbox rolled out the This is an Xbox campaign in November 2024, linked to then-president Sarah Bond. Microsoft used it to promote Xbox as an everywhere brand, pushing the idea that you can play Xbox games on a PC, on your phone (through the cloud), on Smart TVs, and various other devices.

Analysts and industry experts weigh in on the current state of game console prices, warning that the next-gen PS6 and Project Helix might cost $1,000 at release.

Afflicted with sticker shock, gamers are balking at the newly announced PS5 price hikes, particularly to the $900 price tag attached to Sony's mid-gen PlayStation 5 Pro console. But key figures in the games industry say that this new era of prohibitive pricing may just be the beginning of things to come, and higher MSRP could be here to stay throughout Gen 10.

"We're quickly moving towards a world in which a $1,000 console will be the norm, and console gaming will become a luxury expenditure," Joost van Dreunen, co-founder of analyst firm Superdata (acquired by Circana) and a current professor of NYU Stern School of Business, tells GamesRadar in a recent interview.

Sony is boosting PS5 prices, and soon the PS5 Pro will cost $900 in the United States. Ampere Analysis analyst Piers Harding-Rolls says it "wouldn't be a surprise" if Nintendo and Microsoft also raise the price of the Switch 2 and Xbox consoles.

Today, Sony announced that it would be raising prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles across the globe, with the base digital model at $600 and the Pro now at an eye-watering $900, making it the most expensive console currently available. The increases may not end there, though, and analysts are discussing the possibility of other competing systems also getting hikes.

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Ampere's Piers Harding-Rolls explains the current situation, saying that the price hikes are a result of supply chain disruptions and a bid to combat inflation.

Dispatch arrived on PS5 and PC last year to a strong reception, with players quickly falling for its superhero workplace comedy and, of course, Invisigal. However, when it was ported to Nintendo Switch 2 in January 2026, it came with heavy censorship. That sparked a blame game between the studio, AdHoc, and Nintendo. Still, the Switch version remains noticeably tamer than the other ports.

So when AdHoc announced during last night's Xbox Partner Preview showcase that Dispatch is heading to Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud, players had one question amid all the excitement: Will it be censored like the Switch 2 version?

"The Xbox version of Dispatch will be the same full release as the original PC and PlayStation versions," the studio wrote on social media. Some already expected as much, since Xbox and PS5 ports rarely stray far apart, but the clarification was appreciated by fans regardless. It's a small thing, but after the Switch 2 situation, players weren't taking any chances.

In a shareholders meeting, Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young tells investors that the company will prioritize more game sales over additional things like mod support and/or post-launch DLC.

Pearl Abyss's first-ever singleplayer game is a big success. Crimson Desert has reached multiple high-profile sales milestones, first selling 2 million copies in its first day, then hitting 3 million copies in five days. As for the latest sales, the company's CEO says Crimson Desert is nearing 5 million sales.

As per South Korean news site Inven, the news was revealed during the Pearl Abyss's 17th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, where Heo Jin-young also answered multiple questions from investors. Two of these inquiries were focused on what happens next with Crimson Desert, asking about potential mod support to enable users to create and share custom additions to the game, as well as potential official expansions and DLC from Pearl Abyss.

BREAKING: Nintendo has a big nostalgia bomb waiting to go off later this year, as reports have surfaced of a fully-fledged remake of Ocarina of Time coming to the Switch 2.

Nintendo's iconic The Legend of Zelda franchise turns 40 this year, and to celebrate, the company is planning something huge. Sources tell both NateTheHate and VGC that Nintendo will release a new Ocarina of Time remake for the Switch 2 later in the year.

"There is another anniversary this year, and it's the anniversary of The Legend of Zelda... what I can share with you today is that in the second half of 2026, approaching the holidays, we are going to receive an Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2," Nate said in a recent podcast.

Crimson Desert has had a strong debut, selling 3 million copies in just 5 days. The game has been a big hit among players, with its Steam rating now sitting at "Very Positive" with over 28,000 reviews. The title is currently available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with support for Intel Arc GPU owners and MSI Claw handhelds rolling out following recent criticism. This leaves Nintendo Switch 2 gamers on the sidelines. That might not be the case forever.

South Korean outlet Yonhap News Agency reports that during a shareholder's meeting, Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin Young talked in detail about its open-world action RPG. Among the topics covered, the CEO discussed the possibility of releasing the game on Nintendo's newest console. He stated that the team has started looking into this potential port, and R&D, which is Research and Development, has already begun.

To be clear, this is not an announcement, but rather points that Pearl Abyss is researching whether a port is even feasible.

It's official: The PlayStation 5 is getting a price hike around the globe, including the US.

On the heels of yesterday's report, Sony today announced that it will indeed be raising the prices of PlayStation hardware. The prices go into effect on April 2, 2026.

The company confirms an increase of $100 in the United States: the PS5 disc edition will now cost $650 (+30% over launch price), the PS5 digital is now at $600 (+50% increase over launch), and the PS5 Pro is now a whopping $900 (+27% over launch price).

Developer Rogue Factor and publisher Nacon have yet to announce a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Hell is Us, but an ESRB rating has seemingly spoiled that announcement, as an official rating for a Switch 2 version of the title has been discovered.

Unfortunately, we don't have a release date for the Switch 2 version of the game, but given that ESRB ratings are assigned late in a game's development, it's possible we could hear about a Hell is Us Nintendo Switch 2 version during the next Nintendo Direct. For those who don't know, Hell is Us is a third-person action-adventure game built in Unreal Engine 5 that leans heavily into atmosphere, player-driven exploration, and a rejection of modern UI-heavy design.

Described as a title dedicated to "no handholding" gameplay, Hell is Us doesn't feature any minimaps, waypoint markers, or traditional quest tracking systems. Instead, players will be required to navigate and progress through the title using environmental clues, NPC dialogue, and raw memory. As you can probably imagine, this design choice of "no handholding" was immediately controversial upon release, with some players praising it for its sense of immersion and discovery, while others criticized it for the lack of guidance, which can lead to frustration.

Counter-Strike is one of the biggest first-person shooter games to exist, and with regular peaks of nearly 1.5 million concurrent players on Steam, it begs the question - how many of those players are actually human?

With any massively popular video game, you will almost inevitably discover a botting problem, but given that Counter-Strike has an extremely lucrative skin market attached to it, the botting situation is a far greater problem than other multiplayer titles. However, that problem may have been partially pruned as Counter-Strike 2 developer Ido Magal, the project lead on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Counter-Strike 2, has said that Valve has banned 970,000 bot accounts.

The banning of nearly 1 million bot accounts was a result of a "bunch of investigations that benefited from user reports". Looking at the CS2Stats website, we can see that Counter-Strike 2 VAC and game bans have skyrocketed as of the 26th of March. Currently, 17,000 bans have been issued, but CS2Stats only tracks official Valve matchmaking modes, such as competitive and premier, not casual matches such as Deathmatch or bot lobbies / farming servers.

CD Projekt Group's executive management confirms that teams are using AI to help make new games, but humans are firmly in control over the tools and software.

AI is everywhere, especially in games development, but not everyone is using it in the same way. Some firms have gone all-in on AI, generative or otherwise, and other groups and teams see it as an optional tool that can help speed along development. How exactly the tools are used remains a mystery, but in the general sense, AI is used to help automate grueling tasks while also providing visual guidance in pre-production.

Whatever the case may be, it's always interesting to hear major game studios talk about their view of AI. For Polish games-maker CD Projekt, the goal is to experiment with AI and see if it actually helps, while always keeping the developers and creatives in the driver's seat.