Gaming - Page 49

Everything is getting more expensive, even smaller-scale niche gaming products like the Nex Playground.

On the heels of an Xbox price hike, and the PS5's suspected 100 Euro price increase across Europe, another lesser-known console-maker is also raising prices.

The kid-friendly Nex Playground mini-console will soon raise prices by $50, going from its current $249 price to a $299. If that price looks familiar, it's actually the same price that the best-selling Nintendo Switch launched at in 2017.

Oasis Management is now the largest singular shareholder in FromSoftware parent Kadokawa, and the group could pressure the company into making changes to its operations.

Sony is no longer the largest shareholder in Kadokawa Corp, and its 10% stake has been surpassed by an investment firm known for its aggressive tactics in obtaining shareholder returns. It's been revealed by video games industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto that activist investor Oasis Management now has accumulated 11.85% stake in Kadokawa, more than any investor or group.

"Activist investor Oasis' ownership in Kadokawa reached 11.85% today - higher than Sony or anybody else. They could still add more shares. Expect Oasis to make their 'proposals to management' public soon,"Dr. Toto said on Twitter.

New reports indicate that Sony could be raising the price of its PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles in Europe.

Sony's PS5 duo may get more expensive overseas. New reports from French games content creator Gyo indicate that both the PS5 and PS5 Pro could get a steep €100 price hike, leading to a console generation with a mid-gen refresh priced at €900.

Sony has yet to confirm or deny the news, and it currently remains a speculative report, yet the company has already conducted a previous price hike on both PS5 models back in April of last year. That increase tacked on €50 to both the base and Pro systems. If accurate, this will be the second price hike in two years, with the base model having increased by a strong €150 since 2025.

Industry insider and Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has revealed in a recent post that AAA game development costs exceed $300 million, and in some cases, much more.

Schreier revealed the details in a recent report explaining why video games now cost so much money to develop. Within this report, Schreier outlines the current state of the industry, explaining that budgets for AAA titles have been sharply increasing for quite some time, with the reporter pointing to Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which was released in 2009, costing $20 million, while The Last of Us Part 2, released in 2020, cost $220 million.

The report goes on to note that video game budgets have ballooned, mainly due to the combination of development time and salaries. Schreier writes that one employee in Los Angeles could cost the studio anywhere between $15,000 and $20,000 a month, when taking into account salary, benefits, and overhead. If the studio has 100 employees, it will be spending as much as $18 million per year. Now consider studios with thousands of employees.

Amazon has unveiled the actress who will step into Freya's shoes in the upcoming God of War live-action TV show, which recently showcased the actors playing Kratos and Atreus in costume, only to receive immediate backlash from fans.

A new report from Variety has claimed Sonya Walger, known for her role as Penny Widmore in ABC's "Lost", who joined the show in the second season and remained part of it until the sixth and final season, will be playing Freya in the upcoming God of War TV show. Additionally, Walger appeared in Apple TV series "For All Mankind" as Molly Cobb, and has been in other shows such as "The Catch", "Get Shorty", and "Night Sky".

Walger will join the other cast members, such as Ryan Hurst as Kratos, Callum Vinson as Atreus, Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danny Woodburn and Jeff Gulka as brothers Brok and Sindri, and Ed Skrein as Baldur.

The last Jak and Daxter game was released in 2009, and since then, fans of the Naughty Dog-created franchise have been patiently waiting to hear whether a new game or a remaster was in development. The latter is more likely than the former.

Previously unseen footage has been released by Travis Howe, a senior animator at Sanzaru, who wrote in a LinkedIn post that the footage is from a pitch in which the team created a shot-for-shot remake of the beginning of the first Jak and Daxter game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The sequence is when Daxter falls into a dark eco silo, transforming him into the iconic sidekick that sits atop Jak's shoulder.

Howe writes that developers remastered the scene from the original game to showcase what a full remaster would look like if it were designed for current-generation consoles. Notably, Howe says the remaster wasn't commissioned by Sony, meaning the publisher didn't direct the developers to create the remaster. It was a "fan pitch" to get Sony's permission to go ahead with a remaster.

Microsoft's console sales have been in decline since the last generation. VGChartz estimates the company sold just 34.1 million Xbox Series X and S units worldwide in 2025, compared to 86.1 million for the PS5. Rumors started circulating that the end of Xbox consoles is near. There were even doubts that Microsoft would step away from the hardware scene, but then it announced Project Helix.

Project Helix aims to deliver a PC-console hybrid that solves the age-old "console or PC" debate by merging both ecosystems. This meant that the company's next-gen console would be unlike anything seen before. Despite how promising it looked on paper, many called it Microsoft's exit plan and its last hardware endeavor. But not everyone believes that's the future of Microsoft.

In the latest episode of the XB2 podcast, Jez Corden from Windows Central stated that despite ongoing rumors, he knows Project Helix won't be the company's last Xbox console.

YouTuber Stephen McCullagh has been convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend, Natalie McNally, in her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland.

In December 2022, McCullagh went "live" on YouTube to play Rockstar Games' popular franchise Grand Theft Auto, but it was discovered this livestream wasn't "live" at all; it was pre-recorded footage McCullagh was trying to use as an alibi. Cyber experts determined the stream was pre-recorded, which coincides with McCullagh's written statement admitting it was fake. On March 23, 2026, McCullagh was found guilty of murder at a court in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

On the day of the murder, McCullagh disguised himself and took a bus to McNally's home, and returned to his home via a cab. The jury was informed of the faked GTA livestream that McCullagh was trying to use as an alibi, and after only two hours of discussion, the jury reached a guilty verdict. The judge convicted McCullagh of murder, and with that crime comes a life sentence.

Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios' Forza Horizon 6 is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. With the May 19 launch fast approaching, NVIDIA has confirmed that the game will launch with full DLSS 4 support and Multi Frame Generation on day one. This includes NVIDIA Reflex to reduce latency, as well as the latest DLSS Super Resolution for all GeForce RTX gamers.

In addition to support for ultrawide displays and uncapped frame rates, the game will also launch with real-time ray-traced reflections and ray-traced global illumination (RTGI) to enhance visuals for those with capable hardware. According to Playground Games, to experience the game's digital Japan with ray tracing at 1440p at 60 FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. And for 4K, a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti.

Forza Horizon 6 isn't the only racing game getting DLSS support this week, as the neon anime-inspired drifting of Milestone's Screamer is launching on PC on March 26th with DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. The game will also support the latest DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution. Here's a look at DLSS gameplay from Screamer.

A former Rockstar developer has revealed in their LinkedIn employment history and responsibilities that Grand Theft Auto 6 will feature a next-generation procedural, breakable glass system.

GTA fans are patiently waiting for the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in December this year, and in the meantime, they are hunting for any new details about the highly anticipated title. Well, it appears one has been found: a Reddit user spotted a former Rockstar Games developer's LinkedIn page and snagged a screenshot of their employment history. This developer was a Graphics Programmer at Rockstar, and their profile states that they worked on a next-generation procedural breakable glass system intended for "vehicles and props".

The former employee worked at Rockstar from February 2020 to April 2023, during which they worked specifically on GTA 6. In addition to working on GTA 6's next-generation breakable glass system, the developer was also involved in designing the tools Rockstar used to capture the finer details of the game, which would most likely be used in trailers, screenshots, and other promotional material. To add some more spice to the detail, since it was discovered, the developer has removed those details from their LinkedIn account, suggesting there is some legitimacy to the information.

The highly anticipated Forza Horizon 6, which sees the open-world racing move to a virtual Japan, is out May 19 for PC and Xbox Series consoles, with the PS5 release on track for later this year. And with the release creeping up, developer Playground Games has revealed more details about the PC version, including the hardware requirements for playing at various resolutions and graphics settings.

The developer confirms that on day one, the game will support NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, AMD FSR 4, FSR 3, and Intel XeSS 2.1 to enhance performance. That said, based on the specs, it looks like the game will arrive in a pretty polished state and be playable on a wide range of hardware. The recommended specs to play the game with 'High' settings at 1440p 60 FPS call for either a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or a Radeon RX 6700 XT.

On the lower end, for 1080p 60 FPS, you'll only need GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 6500 XT-level performance to play with the 'Low' graphics preset. In addition to this, Playground Games has revealed that the game will support ray-traced reflections and ray-traced global illumination to enhance the visuals, so here's the full breakdown of the specs and what you'll need to run the game with the 'Extreme RT' preset.

Recently, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang sat down with Lex Friedman on his podcast for an extensive discussion on all things NVIDIA, AI, and even gaming. During the candid discussion, he was asked for his thoughts on the greatest or most influential game ever made, and Jensen Huang quickly responded with id Software's iconic Doom from 1993.

"Doom. I would say Doom, from the intersection of the cultural implication, as well as the industry turning a PC into a gaming device," Jensen Huang responded. "That was a very important moment. Now, of course, flight simulation companies were before it, but they didn't have the popularity that Doom did to have made the industry turn the PC from an office automation tool into a personal computer for families and gamers and things like that."

Singling out Doom as one of the most influential PC games ever made is not a controversial take, as id Software's iconic release helped define the first-person shooter genre and shape the next decade of games across PC and consoles. His note that it helps transform the PC from an office or work-related device into something primarily for gaming also makes sense, as Doom helped spur the rise of dedicated graphics cards and other gaming-focused hardware, making PC gaming mainstream.

NVIDIA's recent DLSS 5 announcement was met with widespread controversy and backlash over how its AI model was built to deliver photorealistic lighting, producing visuals that look transformative, albeit with characters that cross into the uncanny valley. In response to the feedback, NVIDIA has reiterated that DLSS 5 doesn't alter in-game geometry and that it provides developers with the tools they need to fine-tune the effect to ensure it fits a particular game's art direction or artistic vision.

However, even though DLSS 5's technology is impressive from a purely technical level, that hasn't stopped the media and the PC gaming community alike from comparing the effects to an Instagram-like AI filter. Specifically, in the NVIDIA demos showcasing characters from games like Resident Evil: Requiem and Hogwarts Legacy, where characters look completely different. And with that, there aren't many positive comments surrounding DLSS 5, which makes this social media post from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 notable.

Daniel Vavra, who was the game director on the critically acclaimed 2025 story-driven action RPG set in 15th-century Medieval Europe, has taken a more pragmatic approach to DLSS 5's debut. Although he doesn't outright praise the DLSS 5 demos, he's optimistic about what it means for the future of gaming and how it might "replace" expensive ray tracing. Adding, "No way haters will stop this."

Sony recently shut down another first-party PlayStation studio, but this time the team wasn't working on a live service game.

Earlier today we reported on the closure of Dark Outlaw Games, a first-party studio that Sony started with ex-Call of Duty alum Jason Blundell back in 2025. Details on Dark Outlaw and the game that they were working on are still somewhat sparse, but it's been revealed in a recent livestream with two former devs--including Blundell himself--that the game wasn't actually an online-driven live service title.

It was previously believed that the project was multiplayer-oriented in scope, given Blundell's prior experience with online games. Sony has pulled the plug on multiple live titles, most famously Concord, which was taken offline quite soon after launch, as well as cancelling other games like a God of War live title and The Last of Us multiplayer. While the scope and overall genre of what Dark Outlaw was working on still remains a mystery, it's interesting to note that Sony scrapped a studio that had been developing something more traditional.

Pearl Abyss's stock is starting to stabilize as investors react to Crimson Desert's strong sales milestones.

South Korean game developer Pearl Abyss has seen its share value rebound following a sharp drop. Shortly after the launch of its first-ever singleplayer AAA game Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss was faced with plummeting shares due to the game's 78 Metacritic score--these scores can influence and affect how many copies of a game are sold.

It turns out that investors' worries were premature. Crimson Desert has sold quite well, first moving 2 million copies in its first day of sale, and then moving 3 million units in five days. These are strong numbers for any new game, especially a title set in a new IP. The last announcement has caught the attention of investors, and Pearl Abyss's stock has now shot up by +23% to 50,200 KRW per share at the time of publication.

Sony's stable of first-party studios continues to shrink as the company tries to wrangle growing operating costs and content risk portfolios.

Sony has made the decision to shutter and close another first-party studio as the games industry continues moving away from high spending on unproven titles. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Dark Outlaw Games has been nixed:

"More layoffs today: PlayStation is closing Dark Outlaw Games, a studio formed last year by former Call of Duty lead Jason Blundell (his previous studio, Deviation, was shut down in 2024)," Schreier said on BlueSky.

UPDATE: Nintendo has issued a statement saying that the price of physical games will not increase.

Original story is as follows:

Nintendo has announced that game price adjustments are coming to the United States for first-party Switch 2 exclusives, indicating that digital games will now cost less than physical games in the region.

Blizzard's WoW Classic has done incredibly well, and now EverQuest is getting the same kind of treatment with EverQuest Legends, a new game that recreates the original experience from 1999.

Following the forced closure of The Heroes' Journey mod, Daybreak Games is now leaning on the community to help capitalize on classic EverQuest. Daybreak has teamed up with the creators of popular EverQuest mod Project 1999 to make an officially sanctioned, standalone product called EverQuest Legends (EQL).

EQL essentially incorporates the main selling point of THJ, which was its emphasis on solo play and multiclassing, with the classic visuals, sensibilities, and refinements found in Project 1999. EQL can also be played in groups of 4 players, as well as 8-player raids, featuring content from the old-school game while also unlocking all of the game's playable races--Iksar, Frogloks, and Kerran will be playable at launch.

Aggressive investor group Oasis Management now has a 10% stake in Kadokawa Corp, the parent company of famed game developer FromSoftware.

Oasis Management, a Chinese activist investment firm known for creating highly scrutinizing briefs that put lots of pressure on companies, has now upped its investment in Kadokawa Corp. Oasis became infamous among gamers for advising Nintendo to charge money for each individual jump in mobile game Super Mario Run.

According to industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto, who is based in Japan, Oasis currently has a 10% stake in Kadokawa, the parent company of beloved game developer and hit-maker FromSoftware. Sony is currently the largest shareholder with 10.09%.

Gearbox has outlined the performance boost that Borderlands 4 will get from tomorrow's big patch - and PC gamers are in for a major frame rate uplift.

While the FPS boost will obviously vary depending on your PC's exact hardware, the takeaway is that you can expect around a 20% boost in the average frame rate. That's the conclusion of Gearbox's own testing (highlighted by VideoCardz) with the v1.5 patch (out on March 26) versus Borderlands 4 at launch (v1.0.2).

So, for example, at 1440p resolution (native, no upscaling) and high details, with a rig that hits the recommended spec (Core i7-12700K with RTX 3080) you used to get 45 FPS, but you'll now get 56 FPS. That represents an uplift of almost 25%, getting close to the magic 60 FPS mark.