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Astonishia Story coming west on February 11, 2027 for PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC
NIS America will release RPG remake Astonishia Story for PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC via Steam on February 11, 2027 in the west, the publisher announced. It will support English text on…
The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster coming west in 2027 for PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC
NIS America will release storybook adventure game The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster for PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC via Steam in 2027 in the west, the publisher announced. I…
Sony Factory Will Still Have Significant PS5 Disc Manufacturing Capacity After Physical Media Deadline
Production will decline by 10%, not to 10%
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is getting a physical version, but it will require an internet connection to download
Good news: FF7 Revelation is getting a disc version, even on PS5. Bad news: it's little more than a license-on-a-disc.
Ratchet & Clank's PS5 Re-Release Will Have a Platinum Trophy When It Comes to PS Plus Premium
Another reason to replay
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Will Ship on One PS5 Disc, Digital Download Required
True of all platforms, by the way
UK PS5 and Xbox sales tripled following GTA 6’s Netflix reveal
PS5 sales were up 33% on GTA 6’s reveal week…
Sony’s State of Play Was Overshadowed By Angry PS5 Fan Demands
The PS5 State of Play showcase was full of angry fans asking for new policies as well as the development of Destiny 3
Until Dawn 2's sun-kissed horror gets a PS5 release date - and the studio behind last year's brilliant Dispatch is involved
Sony has shared more details about the sequel to its acclaimed cinematic horror Until Dawn, which is due to arrive early next year.
Roguelite action game The Eminence in Shadow: Phantom Echoes announced for PS5, Switch 2, and PC
Publisher Aiming and developer Team Caravan have announced The Eminence in Shadow: Phantom Echoes, the first console game based on The Eminence in Shadow anime series. It will launch for PlayStatio…
Grand Theft Auto 6 Is Getting a Pair of Limited Edition PS5 Controllers
Rockstar Games and PlayStation have revealed a pair of GTA 6-themed PS5 controllers.
Fate/EXTRA Record launches January 28, 2027 for PS5, Switch 2, PS4, Switch, and PC
Fate/EXTRA remake Fate/EXTRA Record will launch for PlayStation 5, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam on January 28, 2027 worldwide, publisher Aniplex and developers Meteorise and TY…
Gran Turismo 7 Upgraded to Spec 4 in October and December 2026
Major game updates coming in two parts on PS5, PS4
GTA 6 is getting two custom PS5 DualSense controllers
Both GTA 6 PS5 controllers will be available via PlayStation Direct…
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Ends the Trilogy in April, Loads of New PS5 Gameplay Revealed
What a Revelation
Until Dawn 2 Reveals Release Date in New Trailer
Until Dawn 2 will release on PS5 this January, as confirmed by a new trailer for the game.
Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition's Most Wanted roguelike mode brings back Tsushima's Jin Sakai
Sucker Punch just gave fans of Ghost of Tsushima a good reason to buy Ghost of Yotei's upcoming Complete Edition.
Konami announces magick action adventure game Rhapsody in Scarlet for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC
Konami has announced Rhapsody in Scarlet, an original magick-themed action adventure game coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam. A release date was not announced.
Everything announced at Sony's State of Play September 2026
Here's a full rundown of everything featured during Sony's latest State of Play PS5 showcase, including Wolverine and more.
Sony and Microsoft request dismissal of consumer lawsuits over tariff refunds
Both companies argue they are not legally required to provide refunds to those who bought price-hiked hardware
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
'GTA 6' on PS5 vs Xbox: Key differences to consider
The extended look that premiered on Netflix was played on a PS5. But will Xbox be able to play the game equally well?
CAPCOM Finally Fixes Dragon’s Dogma 2 Biggest Flaw, As Patch 3.2 Brings Significant Performance Improvements On PC and Consoles
Patch 3.2 massively boosts Dragon's Dogma 2 performance on PC, PS5, Xbox, and Steam Deck ahead of Dark Arisen.
New Sony Policy Could Lead To Legal Action Against Vocal PS5 Disc Critics
Sony announces aggressive new measures amid an ongoing PS5 protest that has plagued games like Marvel's Wolverine
gamescom 2026’s Steam wishlist winners
gamescom wrapped up last weekend, and it was bloody fantastic. It really felt like the industry had a spring in its step again. The show itself was BUZZING, with 368K attendees (+3% over last year), maxed-out exhibit space, and Opening Night Live pulling over 78M online views (+7.5%). Let’s have a look at the games at the event that brought in the most new Steam wishlists between August 23 and 30. One quick thing before we start, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but wishlists are NOT a barometer for launch sales (they’re bookmarks, not baskets is what we always say over here at Alinea). With that aside, wishlists are a nice gauge of hype, so let’s dive in. Witche(r)s and Warlocks take the top two spots The biggest game of the event (by new wishlists, anyways) wasn’t a game at all. It was an expansion. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s upcoming expansion, Songs of the Past, nabbed 451K Steam wishlists by the end of the weekend. It’s a big example of something we bang on about constantly: proven IP with built-in fandom is the most powerful force in this market. But said IP can also ripple into other external success stories (more on that later!). Anyway, Songs of the Past debuted at Opening Night Live, and it’s the first Witcher 3 expansion in over a decade, landing next year after a full Witcher 3 remaster (free for existing owners!) arrives next month. The Witcher 3 has sold around 66M copies, and I’ll be one of those owners jumping back in to refresh myself on the core game (like there isn’t enough to play!), then play the expansion next year. This is all part of CDPR’s plan. The studio is clearly whetting everyone’s appetite for The Witcher 4 in 2028 via a classic bridge strategy. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Releasing a free 4K remaster next month – followed by a proper expansion in 2027 – keeps IP top-of-mind across a huge gap between content (games-wise, anyway). It kind of echoes Capcom’s evergreen catalogue strategy. And outsourcing co-development to Fool’s Theory (a studio led by trusted Witcher 3 veterans) keeps CDPR’s internal headcount focused on The Witcher 4. #2 by wishlists between Aug 23 and 30 went to another giant IP: Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, published by Wizards of the Coast and developed by Invoke Studios (a team of ex-Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and Splinter Cell devs). It’s due to launch in 2027, and it looks brilliant so far. It’s a dark-fantasy open world with third-person spell-slinging. It’s a very Witcher-ish aesthetic. As you might expect, 48% of Warlock’s Steam wishlisters have played Baldur’s Gate 3, and 46% have played The Witcher 3. One to watch. For sure! Mash-ups: Anime GTA (!?) and a city-builder for kids (and adults) Ananta took #3 with 302K new wishlists. It’s an open-world game that looks like GTA and Persona had a baby. It was published by NetEase, developed by Naked Rain, and got a trailer at Opening Night Live. I got hands-on at the show, and it wears its influences openly; there’s literal web-slinging (very Spider-Man) and a LOAD of mini-games (Like a Dragon). It’s free-to-play and out in January. For Ananta, Naked Rain is taking the free-to-play, cosmetics-only route. That’s certainly a choice for a single-player open-world game. Without gacha mechanics driving high ARPU, Ananta is betting purely on top-of-funnel reach and long-term retention. This puts pressure on skin appeal when there’s no multiplayer lobby to flex in (although, co-op is reportedly coming later). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Then there’s Lego Skylines (273K wishlists between Aug 23 and 30), which does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a cosy Lego twist on the city-builder genre, as shallow or as deep as you fancy (five min quick sesh or ten-hour no-lifer session; latter for me). There’s some family-friendly stuff in there like couch co-op, which is only really viable on console. Iceflake Studios, which Paradox acquired back in 2020 is developing this one. So Paradox is probably looking for a family-friendly onramp to its rad Cities: Skylines games. The overlap there is plain, with 33% of Lego Skylines wishlisters having played Cities: Skylines and 16% Skylines II. There’s no doubt plenty of parents here (and uncles, ahem) planning to indoctrinate the next gen of city-builders. I’ll definitely be playing with my youngest nephew. This one could be big and educational. I’m very curious to see more. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Mature IP, new and old, rounds out the list As for the rest of the list of gamescom games by new wishlists between Aug 23 and 30: Heroes of Might & Magic III Remake got 189K new wishlists. It remakes the iconic 1999 turn-based-strategy classic in full 3D and 4K. It follows this year’s Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era (~1.8M copies sold, as per our estimates), and around a quarter of the III Remake wishlisters have played Olden Era, including 7% of them this month. Wardogs – a $40 PvP shooter – added another 146K to an already massive pile (nearly 1.6M total). It’s published by Team17 and made by Bulkhead. It plays somewhere between the tactical squad stuff of … Squad and the all-out-chaos battlefield of … Battlefield. It’s up to 100 players, and it’s out in about 10 days. It’s already pre-sold over 500K copies on Steam ($16.6M), boosted by a pre-order-only beta. It sold another 70K copies during gamescom, too. Afterworld managed 121K new wishlists. It’s a Paradox-made post-apocalyptic grand-strategy game, and it was announced at the show. It’s a departure from Paradox’s usual historical stuff, and the studio’s first new setting in over a decade. The Paradox purists are into it, with over half its wishlisters having played Hearts of Iron IV (19% this month) and 41% Crusader Kings III (17% this month). Metro 2039 got 110K during the show, tunnelling its total past 1.3M. Nearly 40% of wishlisters have played 2020’s Metro Exodus, the previous mainline title in the series. The Metro novels are Russian, dev 4A Games is Ukrainian, and it’s set in Moscow, so it’s unsurprising that – after the US (17.3% of wishlisters) – the next two countries are Russia (12.7%) and Ukraine (10.0%). The Blood of the Dawnwalker drew in (the blood of) 108K new wishlisters, now totalling an impressive 1.7M (at a $70 price point, though). It’s an open-world dark-fantasy action-RPG set in 14th-century Europe (with vampires!), made by some former Witcher devs at Rebel Wolves. Again, it shows. Over half of Blood of the Dawnwalker’s wishlisters have played The Witcher 3, and its #2 market is Poland, home of Rebel Wolves. That’s that hometown-hero effect we keep banging on about again! And Blood of the Dawnwalker plays very well, by the way. While it looks like a Witcher clone on the surface, it actually brings a lot to the table mechanics-wise. I love the whole time-as-a-currency spin on RPG gameplay. It gives the game a different, refreshing pace. Essentially, you start Blood of the Dawnwalker with a pool of 480 action points spread across 30 days and 30 nights. As for how the game performs, we’ll be posting some numbers next week, so hit subscribe below to get that in your inbox when it’s ready. Subscribe The Witcher’s legacy ripples Make no mistake: on a high level, this was The Witcher‘s gamescom. The #1 game by wishlisters was a Witcher 3 DLC. Warlock is clearly Witcher-inspired – as is Blood of the Dawnwalker, which was made by ex-Witcher devs. There was a lot of other cool stuff on the floor that we’ll no doubt be covering in subsequent newsletters, though! As always, wishlists went through the roof for sequels, remakes, DLC, and licensed IP. As always, though, these wishlists will likely convert to about 5% to 10% of launch-day buyers, with the probable exception of The Witcher DLC – the exception that proves the rule. Either way, we’ve got a nice, diverse list here – one that is very Witcher-y, Paradox-y, and – if you’re a fan of great games on Steam – a bloody good list. We even got a bunch of new IP to get excited for. Great gamescom! Even if we are still processing that unfathomable number of mini Kölsch beers! One more thing: GTA 6 broke the internet (again) Move aside, Spider-Man and The Odyssey (I love you both, really). But the decade’s defining entertainment zeitgeist is round the corner. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Rockstar dropped an extended look at GTA 6 last week. It was INSANE, the most impressed I’ve ever been by a showcase like this. You can see the budget seeping through every second of the extended look, and this level of game is unobtainable for any other publisher. Everyone’s going nuts, and rightly so. GTA 6 is out in holiday 2026, and it’ll be the biggest entertainment release ever, full stop. For those without a PS5 or Xbox Series console, a $500-$900 console is a big ask in this economy, but GTA will pull a lot of last-generation-console fence sitters over the current-gen fence either way: The autumn timing puts GTA 6 on (digital) shelves for the holidays, meaning a PS5 or Xbox (let’s be honest, mostly the former) will be on many a Christmas and Hanukkah list. Demand will outweigh the struggling supply, though, and PS5 Pros are already sold out and being sold at a markup via scalpers. Every console that isn’t on a shelf is a sale deferred or lost, and worse, it hands scalpers the margin. GTA has cultural clout that reaches everyone. It’s been a mainstream fixture since 2001’s GTA III and its clout has only grown exponentially since then. There’s a touchpoint for every generation alive. The FOMO-word-of-mouth double punch does the rest. Loading... It’ll reactivate the lockdown cohort, the millions who picked up gaming in 2020-21 and churned. GTA 6 will bring them back. Remember when College Football 25 brought a bunch of US gamers to current-gen consoles? GTA will do that globally. Once they’re back (or upgraded), and all GTA’d out, the fresh current-gen-console folks will check out the rest of the current-gen catalogue they missed. GTA Online, if not free to play, will also lead to a boost for PS+ and Xbox Game Pass, another boost for the ecosystem players. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Even some of the smug PCMR 60FPS crew won’t be able to resist their FOMO and will bite the bullet on a console to play this one early (then double dip). The consoles cost the same as a decent stick of RAM these days anyway lmao… Don’t get me wrong, though. GTA 6 is no silver bullet for the mature console market, but it does prime the current gen for a couple of strong swan-song years. And it’ll also give the consoles more users from which to maximise ARPU. ‘’We are in the latter half of the lifetime cycle of [the PS5],’’ said Sony President and CEO Hiroki Totoki in a Wall Street Journal interview. ‘’That means we do not need to aggressively sell the console today; rather than that, we are focusing on the current revenue from the current user base.’’ The biggest, best premium games always arrive late in a console cycle, so getting more players aboard now, ahead of that content storm (the new current-gen-only Call of Duty included), is a clear win for the platforms. On the Netflix thing, though: let’s all chill out a bit, like. Half my LinkedIn feed was going bonkers treating the reveal debuting on Netflix like it’s the future of entertainment. It wasn’t. It was a six-hour head start, and Netflix left that detail out of the “first-of-its-kind partnership” press release. The extended look hit Netflix at 3pm ET on 27 August, then went up on YouTube and Rockstar’s site for everyone six hours later. And it was all over social immediately, anyways. This reveal was going to reach an untold number of people whether it debuted on Netflix, YouTube, a Times Square screen, or a group chat. The last trailer did nearly half a billion views in a day with no gatekeeper at all. Netflix just stood next to that audience for six hours, borrowing it. It’s was a tidy deal for Netflix, sure. But every outlet on earth was breaking the thing down frame by frame by the evening anyway. Anyway. I’m hype. And we’ll be covering some GTA numbers on the newsletter soon. So hit subscribe below to get that in your inbox when it’s ready! Subscribe The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Sony Institutes Harassment Policy Following PS5 Disc Controversy
PlayStation has been receiving an uptick in online complaints after announcing it would stop manufacturing discs in 2028
Sony says ‘reasonable consumers’ know they don’t own the digital games they buy
It’s “not plausible” to suggest people believe they’re “obtaining ownership”…
‘Most’ of Star Wars Zero Company studio Bit Reactor was furloughed ahead of launch
Last week was meant to be a moment of triumph for Bit Reactor, the Maryland-based game studio founded in 2021 with ambitions to create a great new tactical combat game. On Thursday, August 27, Bit Reactor’s debut title, Star Wars Zero Company, released to stellar reviews. And, from the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, studio co-founder Greg Foertsch was giving interviews discussing what the studio’s next game may be. But for many developers on the game, launch has been bittersweet. Fans love it. Critics prefer it to most recent Star Wars games. Zero Company, which is out for PS5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, is the top-selling game on Steam. Much of the team that made it, however, is currently going without pay. They were furloughed, just weeks ahead of the game’s launch. A rep for Bit Reactor confirmed to Game File today that the studio had furloughed many of its workers prior to the game’s release. They said it was a difficult decision and one that had been made before it was clear how launch would go. The rep emphasized that the call to do this was Bit Reactor’s alone (meaning not from publisher EA nor Star Wars license holder Disney). While the rep declined to comment on the scale of the furloughs, a previously unreported lawsuit brought by studio co-founder Alison Kelly in 2024 noted in a filing from August 12 of this year that Bit Reactor “has furloughed most of its employees and terminated contractors…” One source told Game File the furloughs impacted 80% of the team; another referred to there only being a skeleton crew left on Bit Reactor’s active payroll, ready to address any of Zero Company’s post-launch bugs. The issue is that Bit Reactor, a studio formed in 2021, had run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of its first game. Over the weekend, Zachariah Scott, a senior technical artist who worked at Bit Reactor from early 2023 until an acrimonious exit this past May, said on LinkedIn that the studio was “concealing the fact that the team was Furloughed weeks ago.” Reached by phone today, Scott told Game File that he spoke to nearly a dozen Bit Reactor workers over the weekend. “Everybody has essentially the same story, which is, ‘Yeah, I got furloughed three weeks ago.” The Bit Reactor rep told Game File that the studio hoped to bring furloughed workers back, suggesting that a successful launch of the game could be impactful. Scott told Game File that workers he spoke to were less confident that even if there were returns, that all who were furloughed would get their old jobs again. A heated dispute Bit Reactor’s mid-2026 was almost even more tumultuous. The lawsuit by co-founder Alison Kelly that first revealed the furloughs was initially slated to go to trial in June. The suit is a she-said/he-said about whether Kelly, until 2024 the chief operating officer of Bit Reactor, was a co-owner of the studio or whether it was solely owned by Greg Foertsch. In July 2024, Kelly sued, saying she was pushed out by Foertsch. She first sued in federal court and later refiled in Maryland’s Baltimore County, alleging breach of contract and that Foertsch had unjustly enriched himself. Kelly cited damages of over $20 million, on the basis of Bit Reactor allegedly being worth more than double that. Foertsch’s side has said Kelly was never a co-owner and has countered with claims about her job performance (which she has denied). The June trial was postponed until early 2027, as both sides have been deposing witnesses and filing more claims and denials along the way. Amid all of that, filings in the lawsuit reviewed by Game File paint a picture about Bit Reactor’s origins, early aspirations around tactics games, the team’s breakthrough in drawing the attention of Electronic Arts with the help of a pitch tied to one of EA’s non-Star Wars franchises, and early fractures among its co-founders. The real story about the company behind Zero Company
PS5 Officially Has 5 GOTY Contenders Coming in September
Too many new games, too little time
GTA 6 Pre-Orders Jumped By 436% in a Single Day After Netflix Reveal, As PS5 Dominates Xbox
Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders jumped sharply after Rockstar's extended gameplay look aired on Netflix, according to new estimates from Sensor Tower. The analytics firm says pre-orders rose 436% on August 27, the day of the showcase, compared to the day before. That momentum carried into August...
AC Black Flag Resynced Update 1.0.7 Live Tomorrow on PS5, Get the Patch Notes Here
Visual effects changed and a new pet for the Hideout
Naughty Dog's New Game Finishes Recording But Not Ready To Show More
The PS5 exclusive has been MIA since its original reveal in 2024
Sony Argues in Court That Digital Games Can't Be Owned
The PlayStation maker is fighting a California class action over "Buy Now" buttons, and has asked the judge to send the case to arbitration.
Sony Says It No Longer Needs To 'Aggressively Sell' The PS5
125 million PS Plus users turns out to be enough
Fable Won't Demand Over 100 Hours of Your Time on PS5
Expect around 20 hours of main story content
'This Looks Like Dogsh*t': Disturbing DLSS 5 AI Filter Applied to Major PS5 Games After Leaking
AI don't really like it
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered for PS5 Pro will run at 60fps with ray tracing and support PSSR
The performance mode on PS5 Pro gets a bump and can run unlocked and it can hit up to "90fps or something".
26 GTA 6 Screenshot Comparisons Showing How Much Things Have Changed Since Vice City
Let's compare Vice City on the PS2 with GTA 6 on the PS5
Rockstar says GTA 6 runs at 30 FPS, while it's reportedly unsure about a 60 FPS performance mode
The GTA 6 extended look trailer was apparently captured on PS5. Maybe that's why people noticed some frame-rate choppiness. But what FPS will it run at?
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy's Game Director and Star on Why Sophia Is So Special and Why This Prequel Let the Team 'Get Some Fresh Air'
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has just been released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and we had the chance at gamescom to speak to David Dedeine, co-founder of Asobo and game director, and Anna Demetriou, Sophia's voice actor, about this big moment for the franchise.
The Witcher 3 Remastered features community-made mods, modder speaks about working with CD Projekt Red
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered will incorporate community-made mods…
Video: Elden Ring Nintendo Switch 2 vs. PS5 graphics comparison
Elden Ring is launching imminently on Nintendo Switch 2, and we’re now able to get a better look at how it compares to the PS5 release with a graphics comparison video. Much has been made of the Nintendo Switch 2 version going back to last year. Out of the gate, the title seemed to struggle with performance. FromSoftware definitely made...
Review: Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Is a Visual Feast to Cherish on Every Console
Though PS5 Pro is a class apart.
Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake announced for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC
Ubisoft has announced Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, a remake of the 1999-released turn-based strategy game. It will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Ubisoft…
Rainbow Six Tactics Announced, First Single-Player Rainbow Six Game Since Vegas 2 in 2008
Ubisoft has announced Rainbow Six Tactics, an upcoming turn-based tactics game starring familiar Rainbow Six Siege Operators. Revealed at Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase, it will retail for $49.99 and is due out in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's the first single-player game in the franchise since Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2008.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics announced for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC
Ubisoft has announced Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based tactical game set in the Rainbow Six universe. It will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store…
GTA VI keeps cyberleeking, with trips to the club, a used game store, and the beach.
A new round of leaked video clips has surfaced, and they appear to show that the well-populated areas from Rockstar’s trailers will be featured in the actual game. Like all of the leaked gameplay before, they feature only the Jason character, walking through a crowded nightclub, and cycling down a beach. The last clip takes him to “Game Horde” with plenty of used PS5s and physical copies of games lining the shelves, readily available for rental or trade, even if GTA VI won’t be. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-25-135930.png?quality=90&strip=all]
Sci-fi action platformer Elta: Defy All Gods announced for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC
Publisher Focus Entertainment and Dreamscaper developer Afterburner Studios have announced Elta: Defy All Gods, an “adrenaline-fueled action platformer blending free-form melee combat, fluid …
Anime Open World Ananta Could Release Just 8 Weeks After GTA 6 on PS5
Clash of the titans
The Witcher 4's 2028 release date sparks PS5 physical release concerns, but is there anything CD Projekt Red can do to avoid Sony's decision?
Sony will stop making PS5 discs in January 2028, and The Witcher 4 will be released in 2028. Does that mean it'll be digital only?
Earth Defense Force 6.2: Invaders from Another World announced for PS5
D3 Publisher and developer Sandlot have announced Earth Defense Force 6.2: Invaders from Another World for PlayStation 5. It is an updated version of Earth Defense Force 6 with enhancements tailore…
Terranigma announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PS4, Switch, and PC
Clear River Games, in cooperation with Square Enix, has announced Terranigma, a revival of the 1995 action RPG, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC (Steam). It w…
Ex-Forza Horizon Devs Finally Find a Publisher for Clutch, PS5's Promising Open World Racer
A clutch move you might say
PS5 RPG Dawnwalker Actually Will Have 60FPS Mode, Part of Day One Patch
Rebel Wolves had it in testing
Video: Metal Gear Solid 4 Side-By-Side Graphics Comparison (Switch 2, PS5, PS3)
Master Collection Vol. 2 launches next week
Furious PS5 Players Unplug Their Consoles in Protest as Blackout Gets Underway
And so it begins
Capcom talks Onimusha: Way of the Sword for Nintendo Switch 2, says you may not feel a difference compared to PS5
Nintendo Switch 2 players don’t have anything to fear when it comes to the upcoming Onimusha: Way of the Sword, as Capcom has indicated that it’ll be pretty much like the PS5 version. Based on some of the publisher’s other recent games like Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata, this isn’t overly surprising. The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Onimusha: Way...
The Blood of Dawnwalker's console modes top out at 40fps, with no 60fps option at launch
New console footage confirms The Blood of Dawnwalker will cap out at 40fps on PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X/S at launch, with no 60fps mode currently planned.
Video: Metal Gear Solid 4 Nintendo Switch 2 vs. PS5 vs. PS3 graphics comparison
New Metal Gear Solid 4 Nintendo Switch 2 vs. PS5 vs. PS3 graphics comparison video released as MGS: Master Collection Vol. 2 approaches.
The Blood of Dawnwalker Won't Have 60FPS Mode on PS5 or Even PS5 Pro
Console footage shared online
Sony CEO calls memory shortage timing "lucky" following PS5 console price increases
Despite criticism over PS5 price hikes, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki is confident in PlayStation’s future. The memory shortage intensified when the company had already secured a large user base. The executive told The Wall Street Journal that he is content to profit from existing console owners.
'We Don't Need to Aggressively Sell the Console': Sony CEO Says Timing of Memory Crisis Is 'Lucky' for PS5
"Monetising users is quite important for us"
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter demo now available, Season Pass and Digital Deluxe Edition announced
GungHo has launched a free Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter demo on PS5, Steam, and Switch 1 with save data carrying over into the full game.
6 Ways PS5's Tides of Annihilation Blew Me Away After 2 Hours of Play
The tide is high-ly impressive
iRacing Arcade coming to PS5, Xbox Series on August 21
Publisher iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations and developer Original Fire Games will release racing game iRacing Arcade for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series on August 21, the companies announced.
Rumoured Phantom Blade Zero PS5 Demo Nowhere to Be Seen After State of Play Deep Dive
Zero'd
Sony's New 'It Happens on PS5' Ad Has Gone Down Exactly as You'd Expect
"Discs used to happen on PS5"
Sony still hasn't chosen a PlayStation 6 release date, says CEO, as RAM crisis continues
There is still no internal release date for the PlayStation 5 successor, according to Sony's CEO.
Indie developer of popular stock market game says Sony is blocking a PS5 release and delisting its previous games
STONKS-9800 is no longer coming to PS5 and all of Ternox’s previous games are being pulled…
Killing PlayStation discs could make PS Store games cheaper, according to a former Square Enix exec
A former Square Enix business development director explains why axing PlayStation discs could make PS Store games cheaper.
'It's a Relentless Onslaught': Wolverine PS5 Dev Responds to Unprecedented Criticism
"I cannot believe this is good for anyone's mental health"
You'll Have to Wait Until 2028 to Play PS5's Shiniest, Jankiest Sci-Fi Adventure
New Neo Berlin 2087 trailer just dropped
'The Game Feels Super Smooth': Wolverine Will Run at 60fps with Ray Tracing on Base PS5
Insomniac wizardry
Bethesda finally "looking into" patching Oblivion Remastered on PC, PS5 and Xbox amid praise for Switch 2 release
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is seemingly getting a second life on PC, PS5 and Xbox well over a year after release.
Phantom Blade Zero PS5 Demo Leaks Before Next Week's State of Play
The PS Store strikes again
Oblivion Remastered Is Fine On Switch 2, But Fans Want A PS5 Patch
Many players want Bethesda to update the RPG on PS5 and Xbox following the release of the new port
Oblivion Remastered Could Finally Be Fixed on PS5 as Bethesda Promises 'Optimisations' Patch
Take your time
State of Play for Phantom Blade Zero Announced for Next Week, 11-Minute Trailer Revealed
A $60 PS5 game with pre-orders live now
PS3 Lord of the Rings Action RPG War in the North Suddenly Returns, Out Now on PS5
Fly, you fools
PS3 Lord of the Rings Action RPG War in the North Suddenly Returns, Remaster Out Now on PS5
Fly, you fools
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition now available for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC
Aspyr ha announced and released The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition, a remastered version of Snowblind Studios’ 2011-released action RPG, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Se…
Playstation Announces 'Marvel's Wolverine' Limited Edition PS5 and Controller
Here's when you can pre-order the Marvel's Wolverine PS5 and DualSense controller
Marvel's Wolverine Limited Edition PS5 Consoles, Controllers Announced, Pre-Orders Next Week
Nice PS5, bub
GTA 6's $100 PS5 Ultimate Edition Is Getting More Pre-Orders Than the Cheaper Version
But that's to be expected
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
Review: Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls (PS5) - The Most Exciting Fighting Game in Years
Superheroic
You can now stream PS Plus games to Steam Deck without owning a PS5 - and without buying a PS Portal
A new cloud-streaming app that lets players stream PlayStation games to their Steam Deck and Steam Machine without a PS5 has just opened a playtest.
Steam Deck gets one of PS Portal's key features
Steam Deck and Steam Machine users can now test PlayStation cloud streaming through a third-party Steam app. Asobi also supports select purchased PS5 games without connecting to a console.
Brand-New 12-Player Co-Op Open World Game With 92 Rating is Now on PS5
PlayStation 5 gamers have a new 12-player co-op open world game to play that has gotten rave reviews from critics.
Latest PS5 Pro Firmware Beta Automatically Enables PSSR 2.0 Override
Given how much better it is, this makes a lot of sense.
Rockstar Owner Take-Two Confirms GTA 6 Release Date Still on Track, Says 'GTA 6: An Extended Look' Will Help Grow 'Consumers' Passion and Anticipation'
Rockstar owner Take-Two has confirmed the current November 19 GTA 6 release date is still on track, and insisted the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will help grow “consumers’ passion and anticipation" for the game.