Gaming - Page 66

Rockstar announced the next-gen update for the first Red Dead Redemption game in November 2025, sparking the conversation as to where the next-gen update is for Red Dead Redemption 2.

For those who don't know, Red Dead Redemption 2 still hasn't received a current-gen console update; the versions of the game running on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles are the versions that were released on the PS4-era of consoles, just made compatible with current-gen hardware. With those versions of RDR2 being brought over and Rockstar now doing an official remaster of the first game for current-gen consoles, fans want to know when the same treatment will be applied to RDR2.

Rumors of the next-gen update, which would introduce a 60FPS mode, and likely improved visual fidelity in the form of additional graphical technologies, have been circulating for quite some time, and now Reece "Kiwi Talkz" Reilly has responded to an X post where a fan of the Red Dead franchise said he was "losing faith" in Rockstar releasing an enhanced edition for RDR2, as he believes that sources cited by leakers about an RDR2 enhanced edition mistakenly got the RDR2 and Red Dead Redemption mixed up.

Master Chief's voice actor shares a rare behind-the-scenes story about Halo 5, acknowledging the controversy around the game's bait-and-switch advertising while saying he actually pushed back against some of the decisions that were made.

Halo 5 has gone down in history as having one of the most misleading advertisement campaigns of all time, but things might have been even more confusing if Master Chief actor Steve Downes hadn't expressed his thoughts while recording.

In a new video celebrating 25 years of the Halo franchise, Downes answers fan questions for a good 38 minutes, and one of them was about the different promos like the misleading Hunt the Truth campaign that were used to advertise the game in the Xbox One's earlier days.

Ubisoft recently announced a third round of cost-cutting measures that included the closure of several studios and the cancellation of titles, including the highly anticipated reboot of the original Prince of Persia game. To go along with the studio closures and development cancellations, thousands of employees are likely to be jobless, and we are now hearing that they are making their feelings known in internal chat rooms/threads that are equivalent to Slack messages.

In a recent episode of the Insider Gaming podcast, Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, a well-known Ubisoft insider, explained that the publisher is really not in a good position at the moment and that upper management has positioned itself in such a way that they will always have control of the company, regardless of whether current performance metrics call for a leadership change. Henderson pointed to Ubisoft's stock price being incredibly low and its valuation being under $1 billion, even though it was nearing $10 billion.

Notably, many of the employees at the publisher's studios were made aware of the third round of cost-cutting measures through Ubisoft's public announcement, and given the headcount reduction of 3,633 people from 20,729 in 2022 to what is now 17,097 as of September 2025, they are understandably annoyed with upper management. Henderson said that it is "fascinating" seeing employee messages from Ubisoft's internal communications systems "slagging off the Guillemot brothers. It's actually insane. It's not nice stuff as well, alright, it's really hard stuff."

Microsoft just wrapped up an Xbox Developer Direct where several upcoming titles were showcased, including the highly anticipated Fable from Playground Games and Forza Horizon 6.

The Xbox Developer Direct was an overall success, with the YouTube video posted to the official Xbox channel raking in more than 1 million views, and many positive comments about the contents of the showcase. The highlights were Playground Games' Fable reboot and Forza Horizon 6, with Fable really taking the spotlight following the unveiling of the new morality system, living population, and image fidelity.

The success of the Xbox Developer Direct has now spawned rumors, as Windows Central editor and well-known Microsoft insider Jez Corden said during a recent episode of The XB2 podcast, "I have heard that they are exploring doing another one this year. So like don't be surprised if we do get another dev directly share at some point." Corden went on to mention that Xbox has quite a lot to show off this year, and said he has heard Xbox specifically is discussing a second Developer Direct, and not a "Partner Preview".

Sony's next-gen PlayStation 6 won't be out for a while--longer than gamers are expecting, one analyst predicts.

Right now isn't a great time to produce a major video games console. Hungry AI datacenters are eating up the critical memory and storage chips needed to make PlayStation consoles, and while Sony says it has procured short-term supply, what does the future look like? Will these shortages impact PlayStation 6 production?

Mindful of these disruptions, analysts predict that Sony could delay the PS6 console and elongate the current PS5 lifecycle. Indeed, that does seem to be what Sony is doing; company CFO Lin Tao says that the PS5 is currently in "the middle of its journey," indicating the PS5 could be supported until 2030. Does that mean gamers will have to wait until 2030 for the PS6, though?

Xbox exclusivity is dead as Microsoft seeks greater profits through expanded sales, but there's a better, more PR-friendly way to say that.

Microsoft telegraphs that it will keep releasing all of its future Xbox games on PlayStation, further burying the idea of first-party Xbox game exclusives. In a recent interview with Games Radar, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan echoes a sentiment that we've heard everyone at Xbox say: Developers want as many people playing their games as possible. That means releasing on more platforms.

For Microsoft, it's all about growth through sales and players; Xbox products can often be infused with online elements and microtransaction hooks to ensure the spending can continue long after the game is purchased. Microsoft is reportedly stressing the Xbox games unit to deliver more profit, leading to the games division to make radical changes like breaking exclusivity in the hopes of selling more games--and generating more profit by virtue of boosted revenue.

Developer Undead Labs and Xbox haven't given an update on State of Decay 3 since a short trailer was released at 2024's Xbox Games Showcase. Now that Xbox has wrapped up its 2025 showcase without providing an update on the title, many fans are wondering about its current status.

However, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan recently commented on State of Decay 3 during an interview with GamesRadar, confirming that the title, which has been in development for six years now, is still undergoing development and that what he has seen of it makes him quite excited. Duncan was asked whether fans would see more of State of Decay 3 sometime in 2026.

Fans of the franchise can now breathe a sigh of relief if they thought Xbox quietly canceled development on the third installment in the franchise, but considering that Xbox and Undead Labs have effectively been radio silent on the upcoming title for quite some time, it's understandable how some fans thought State of Decay 3 was never happening.

Tesla has announced it will put a paywall on its lane-centering feature for both the Model 3 and Model Y.

This decision has effectively killed standard Autopilot, with the company now putting a basic safety feature behind the Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscription, which costs $99/month. Notably, Tesla included this feature in its vehicles for 7 years under the name "Basic Autopilot," which consists of two key mechanics: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, which matches your vehicle's speed to the vehicle ahead, and Autosteer, which maintains the vehicle's center position within a lane. Autosteer is now being moved behind a paywall.

Why is Tesla now pay-walling Basic Autopilot features? Reports are pointing to Elon Musk's near $1 trillion pay package, approved by Tesla shareholders in November 2025, specifically the stipulation that Tesla must increase the total number of FSD subscribers by 10 million.

Ubisoft's announcement of an internal restructuring, which involves numerous studio closures and game cancellations, has sent shockwaves through the publisher and its subsidiaries, with reports now indicating talent is now shaming upper management in internal chat channels.

Ubisoft's reshuffling is entirely due to the company's financial situation following several lengthy development cycles, delays, and underperforming releases. According to the company, this latest restructuring is the "third and final phase" of its plan to get the company back on course.

It's estimated that Ubisoft will save as much as 200 million euros by the end of March 2028. Notably, Ubisoft entered its second phase in 2022, where it remains, and it is projected to save as much as 300 million euros. Since 2022, Ubisoft has significantly reduced headcount, reducing from 20,729 in September 2022 to 17,097 as of September 2025. Additionally, Ubisoft studios such as Osaka, San Francisco, Leamington, Halifax, and London have all been closed.

The new Fable game doesn't have a good and evil morality system, therefore players won't change appearance based on good or evil deeds, Playground Games has officially confirmed.

In the original Fable games, your choices changed the world...and they also changed you, giving you devil horns or pristine halos depending on your actions in-game. But the new Fable game that's coming out this year removes this feature entirely. The trailer's tagline seems to make it clear; "your choices change the world," but they don't change you. At least not this time.

In a recent interview with IGN, Fable game director Ralph Fulton explains why the feature was removed, saying that there is no stark black and white good and evil in Albion. Plus, being a majestically glowing hero or sinister villain would conflict with Fable's new location-based reputation system, which technically lets you start anew every time you visit a previously undiscovered location.

Epic's exclusivity deals have received criticism across the industry, and recent comments from a Baldur's Gate 3 developer have prompted a response from one of Epic's key partners--Remedy Entertainment.

Epic has made multiple exclusivity deals, and the co-financing deal with Remedy was noteworthy.. Epic funded 100% of Alan Wake 2's development and publishing costs, a typically rare opportunity. In exchange, Alan Wake 2 would be exclusive to the Epic Store and not launch on Steam, and be digital-only on consoles. Restricting sales from PC's biggest storefront leads to less sales, yet the game has sold 2 million copies as of February 2025 and finally started turning a profit, leading to royalties for Remedy.

Epic exclusives have been controversial in the past, and this time, Larian publishing director Michael Douse to openly call out one of Tim Sweeney's Tweets about "altruistic pro-developer talk." The exchange was an interesting back-and-forth that doesn't often happen in the games industry.

Battlefield 6 was officially the #1 top-selling game in the US throughout 2025, beating out Call of Duty and other competitors.

EA's Battlefield 6 has conquered its rivals, emerging as the best-selling game of the year in one of gaming's biggest regions. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella confirmed the news on Bluesky in the firm's monthly games industry sales breakdowns. According to the data, Battlefield 6 was the #1 seller of 2025 in combined physical and digital sales across consoles and PC.

"Battlefield 6 finished as 2025's best-selling video game in tracked full game dollar sales. Battlefield 6 ranked 1st on both Xbox and the aggregated PC storefronts for the year while placing 2nd on PlayStation behind only NBA 2K26," Piscatella said.

Ubisoft announced on Wednesday that it was canceling several of its games in development and closing multiple studios in a sweeping move under the banner of company restructuring.

The next day, Ubisoft stock awoke to a price seemingly in freefall as the company's share price dropped by 34% by the end of Thursday. At the time of writing, Ubisoft's share price is continuing to fall, reaching a low not seen since 2011, and the last time before that was 2004, before the company released the first Far Cry game, which was the title that put the publisher on the map.

It has been known that Ubisoft has been struggling financially for quite some time, especially following the disappointing launch of several titles, prolonged development cycles, and overblown budgets demanded by some of its IPs. The financial strain was assisted by Tencent, which injected $1.2 billion into the company for a 25% stake in Ubisoft's new company that manages its most-valuable franchises, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six Siege.

The upcoming Fable was recently showcased at the Xbox Developer Direct, where fans of the franchise got to glimpse at the reboot of the classic title.

The showcase of Fable marks the first time a new Fable has unveiled since 2010, and to pair with the showcase, developer Playground Games has sat down with IGN to provide more details about the upcoming title. During the interview, founder and general manager of Playground Games, Ralph Fulton, revealed the reboot will axe the ability to make dogs companions.

Fulton said, "Yeah, I did know I was going to get this question. And do you know what? There are some folks on the team that were relishing me getting this question because I cut it a while back. You know what? For development reasons, right?" Fulton didn't provide any more details as to why he decided to cut the mechanic from the new Fable, but he did recognize that many people, including people within the development team, are upset with the decision.

There are two open-world games anticipated to push the envelope of what is possible in immersive worlds: Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 6 and CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 4.

Unsurprisingly, Grand Theft Auto 6 is so anticipated that it's estimated to earn a billion dollars in pre-orders once Rockstar makes it available to purchase, with the title also taking home the Most Anticipated award from The Game Awards 2025.

Followed closely behind is The Witcher 4, which, according to reports, could cost CD Projekt Red close to $400 million to develop, and then another $400 million on marketing. If that is true, it will put it at the table with Red Dead Redemption 2's $540 million budget, and GTA 6, which is expected to have cost anywhere between $1 and $2 billion by the time it releases in November 2026.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 (BG&E2) is pushing for the record for the longest development cycle of any gaming franchise, with it being 17 years since the sequel to the cult classic Beyond Good & Evil was teased by Ubisoft.

Ubisoft teased the sequel in 2008, and an early prototype reportedly existed during the PS3/Xbox 360 era, but Ubisoft ultimately shelved that version. However, in 2017, Ubisoft unveiled a new version at E3, and since then, there has been no word on an official release.

Reports suggest the current version of the game has been in development since 2017, and that the creator of the original title, Michel Ancel, left Ubisoft in 2020. Despite Ancel's departure, BG&E2 continued to survive, with Emile Morel taking the helm after Ancel, only to pass away in 2023.

Microsoft recently hosted an Xbox Direct where it gave long-awaited Fable fans a look at the upcoming reboot, which is headed to Xbox consoles, PC, and PlayStation. Neither the developer, Playground Games, nor Xbox mentioned a Nintendo Switch 2 release, but insiders say it's under consideration.

Windows Central editor Jez Corden, who has a good track record for Microsoft/Xbox insider knowledge, recently wrote in an X post that he was told that Fable for the Nintendo Switch 2 isn't "100% definite for now," and went on to say in a separate X post that he believes it will happen despite it not being in development right now. Corden wrote that a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the title is "under consideration for the future".

Judging from Corden's comments, it seems safe to say that Playground Games wants to complete the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation editions of Fable before it considers working on a Switch 2 version or decides to hand the task off to another studio. As for what is confirmed, the new Fable will put a lot of focus on influence, choice, and reputation, with the world consisting of a "living population" of more than 1,000 NPC characters that players will influence through conversations, actions, and events.

Although it was released six weeks earlier in the year, EA's Battlefield 6 is the first game in the long-running series to outsell a Call of Duty game in the United States in a calendar year. In fact, Battlefield 6 was the best-selling 'premium' game on all platforms in the U.S. last year, according to a new report from analyst Mat Piscatella.

Ranked based on dollar sales, that is, money earned, EA's shooter tops the list, followed by Take-Two Interactive's NBA2K26 and Borderlands 4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is number five on the list, which makes it one of the year's best-sellers but an underperformer when it comes to what is widely considered to be one of gaming's biggest franchises.

Call of Duty games usually top the list or drop into second place when a Rockstar game like GTA V or Red Dead Redemption 2 rolls around. Coming in fifth means that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the lowest a CoD game has placed in annual sales charts since Call of Duty: World at War, which released all the way back in 2008.

Xbox reveals smooth and graceful combat for the new Fable game, showing clear inspirations to the fast hack-and-slash action found in the Witcher series. As it turns out, there's a very good reason for that.

Years ago in 2021, Witcher 3's gameplay designer Paweł Kapała left CD Projekt RED and joined Playground Games to design combat systems for the studio's new Fable project. As per his LinkedIn, Kapala spent over a year at Playground's Leamington Spa-based studio "designing and implementing combat in Fable." Now in today's Developer Direct, we see how Kapala's influence shaped Fable's gameplay.

Fable's new gameplay footage shows off combat that is significantly faster than any of the previous games in the series. If you've played The Witcher 3, you might be reminded of Geralt's fluid swordplay while watching the new Fable in action. There's higher emphasis on smooth animations; gone are the days of arcade-style action from the former games. Fable has been fully modernized, complete with a style and execution reminiscent of today's open-world action adventure RPGs.

Playground Games reveals its take on next-gen NPCs with its so-called "living population," a webwork of over 1,000 characters with dialog, personalities, and multiple player interaction points.

Today's Developer Direct show revealed tons of details about the new Fable game, including an Autumn 2026 launch. The new Fable puts heavy emphasis on influence, choice, and reputation, using NPCs as a big part of how players find agency in the world. These social systems underpin the fairy tale experience that the devs are shooting for; how you are perceived and defined in the world itself is largely influenced by what townsfolk think about you.

Playground went all out for the new Fable in this regard. The studio has created what it calls the 'living population' for its game, describing a bustling world filled with over 1,000 NPCs that apparently do a little more than gamers are used to.