Welcome back to your monthly report of game news, where I do my best to compile everything into one convenient ad-free place, so you don’t have to worry about the pesky cracks that info can fall through at other publications.
Thanks and credit for the banner image as always goes to the Avocado’s one and only Space Robot!
Leading chipmakers/graphics card makers/console co-producers Nvidia and AMD have been embroiled with the Trump Administration since April over the “security threat” of selling their products in China, eventually leading to a deal made in August with both companies for the US government to receive 15% of the revenue from sales of AI chips to China, effectively an illegal export tax. This collaboration has continued with the government taking a 10% ownership stake in Intel followed by Nvidia in turn investing $5 billion into Intel, giving the struggling tech company a lot of new capital with a lot of strings attached. Intel and Nvidia will for now have new dedicated joint products but will not be involved in each other’s preexisting products.
August 28th: The lawsuit by the band Crush 40 against Sega over rights to their music used in Sonic the Hedgehog games and movies had ended after a California judge dismissed the case with prejudice. It is now settled law without much room for dispute that Sega owns the music that was produced under contract for it by Crush 40, and that Sega doesn’t owe any further royalties to the band.
September 1st: In another nail in the coffin for Sony and Haven’s live service Fairgames, its director Daniel Drapau announced that he had joined Warner Bros Montreal as its new creative director.
MMO developer Rich Vogel announced that NetEase has shut down their subsidiary/his development studio T-Minus Zero.
September 2nd: Jason Schreier exclusively reported more details about Microsoft’s cancellation of the AAA Perfect Dark Reboot, explaining that a deal to salvage the project had collapsed before codeveloper Crystal Dynamics laid off its team on the game. Crystal Dynamics (and its parent company Embracer Group) brought in Take-Two Interactive to take over: Take-Two was offering to buy the Perfect Dark IP and provide funding and publication for the game, but Microsoft was unwilling to give up the IP rights.
Right after Sony semi-offloaded its ownership stake in EVO, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund became the co-owner of the EVO esports tournament series by acquiring the other non-Sony half, buying esports company RTS from Endeavor, the parent company of WWE and UFC. Saudi Arabia’s government made the purchase as part of the Qiddiya entertainment megaplex.
Nintendo announced that it will be adding Forsaken 64 and Magical Vacation for GBA on the Nintendo Switch Online service’s premium tier, with the former being West-only and the latter Japan-only. This is notable as Forsaken was an obscure inclusion in a recent NSO leak that also indicated several of the last major N64 additions are coming soon, namely DK64 and Smash Bros 64, as well as Rayman 2 and Glover. Also, resolution and control enhancements were added to the GBA app.
Paramount and Activision officially announced a live action Call of Duty movie in development.
September 3rd: A new State of Play presentation premiered, dedicated entirely to an extended gameplay showcase for IO Interactive’s 007 First Light, which is now officially launching on March 27th 2026 for PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series S|X, with a $70 physical release on all consoles (game-key card for Switch).
Retail leaker Billbil-kun revealed that Sony’s Europe division is reducing the internal storage capacity for the digital-only PS5 model as a cost-cutting measure, bringing it to the same quantity as the launch PS5.
September 4th: Take-Two confirmed that it has once again fired dozens of developers at Firaxis, this time after the launch of Civilization 7 earlier this year, instead of Midnight Suns in late 2023.
As discussed in the previous Roundup, EA leadership is very unhappy that Take-Two was trying to make a rival College Basketball game, and this has now culminated in the EA Sports game being seemingly canceled, just like they were threatening. As learned from a leaked email by EA executive Sean O’Brien, multiple licensing directors from Division 1 colleges were told that their choice to work with 2K Sports has led to there being no “acceptable path forward” and EA’s offers to them being rescinded.
September 5th: After being rather open about developmental difficulties for KH3, Tetsuya Nomura commented on the production progress of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 and Kingdom Hearts 4, saying that both are going “smoothly and according to schedule,” and that the release timing for FF7R3 has already been decided. Thanks to other interviews with Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of both Rebirth and Part 3, we have even more insights into the FF7R trilogy. Rebirth is already in advanced development for Switch 2 and Xbox Series S|X and expected to launch by the end of 2026, and Part 3 is officially in simultaneous mulitplatform development from the main team, it will come to PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series S|X as close together as possible, either all on launch day or as soon as possible after.
September 8th: As information about the next generation of consoles keeps gathering steam, Tom Henderson answered one of the biggest questions about the PlayStation 6 by exclusively reporting that it will still feature disc drive support even as the industry increasingly becomes digital-first. Like the PS5 Slim, it will have an online connected detachable external disc drive that can be bought separately or bundled in. Physical gaming won’t be dead, but it will still be more expensive at a time when almost everything in gaming is getting too expensive. Henderson says that the disc drive inclusion is a firm decision due to the success of the standalone disc drive’s sales since the PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro’s debuts. He also suggests that the PS6 will have a more simple and streamlined design compared to the PS5 to ease manufacturing and shipping.
The entire catalog of delisted iPod clickwheel games (which I had as a kid!) have been successfully preserved by a fan project.
After a successful launch for their Indiana Jones game, MachineGames’ studio head says that they still plan to make Wolfenstein 3 to complete the modern series.
September 9th: Microsoft announced a company-wide return to office mandate after years of subsidiaries like Activision facing pushback for enforcing the same kind of policy; the company will start mandating a hybrid setup of three days minimum in-office days per week in 2026, first affecting Seattle-area employees by February 2026 and rolling out internationally throughout the rest of the year. After obscene levels of mass layoffs at the tech giant, this is likely to result in even more as some employees will be unable to conform to the extra demands of in-office work, especially when some departments are already expected to go for a full five days a week in-office policy.
As exclusively announced in Game Informer, mecha deckbuilder Battle Suit Aces will launch on October 7th 2025 for PC, Switch, and PS5 from Trinket Studios, the makers of Battle Chef Brigade.
Forever Entertainment and Sega re-revealed the Panzer Dragon 2 Zwei Remake after it was first announced in 2018, demoing it at TGS and scheduling it to launch soon for PC, Switch, PS4/5, and Xbox One/Series.
September 10th: Play Acclaim Showcase: I remain astonished that the guys I so thoroughly took down in The End of Acclaim many years ago have technically returned, even if in name only. Nine games by partnered indie devs were featured, some revealed for the first time, some pre-existing on PC but picked up for publishing on consoles. There was the rhythm action game Grid Beat by Ridiculous Games, followed by Basketball Classics for those of you who remember Acclaim’s NBA Jam days. There was survival roguelike Ground Zero Hero by Rowan Edmondson, Pixel Washer by Valadria, Talaka by Potato Kid, Tossdown by Fer Factor, The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest by Elden Pixels, Hyperyuki Snowboard Syndicate by Wabisabi, and Katanaut by Voidmaw.
September 11th: A bidding war officially ignited for ownership of Warner Bros ahead of the company’s divestment of Discovery assets scheduled for early 2026, as the New York Times reported that Paramount seeks to acquire WB, after Sony was already reported to be exploring an acquisition, and preceding reports that Netflix has stepped in as well. Paramount has already undergone one massive merger when David Ellison’s Skybound began acquiring the movie studio last year and only just finalized it in August 2025. Throwing WB into the mix would be a deeply horrifying degree of media industry consolidation, especially in conjunction with the Ellison family’s surveillance empire.
A new report by French newspaper Les Echoes confirms that Ubisoft leadership is continuing to receive and ignore pushback by internal employees towards its various policies, in this case the already infamous Saudi Arabia collab.
Slay the Spire 2‘s Early Access release was delayed from Fall 2025 to March 2026.
September 12th: Nintendo Direct: The presentation opened with a 20 minute Mario 40th Anniversary segment highlighting four game announcements, as well as the Nintendo Museum, Super Nintendo World theme parks, and the Mario Movie sequel coming in April 2026, which was officially announced as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The first reveal was Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 launching on October 2nd 2025: this features both games bundled physically for $70 and sold individually on the eShop for $40 each, featuring brand new Rosalina Storybook content for both games, Assist Mode, significantly remastered textures, and Switch 2 enhancements like native 4K resolution and mouse controls. New Mario Galaxy amiibos will release alongside the movie. The original Rosalina Storybook is also being published as a hardcover book by Dark Horse Comics, coming November 25th for $25 exclusively through the Nintendo online store. This was the only newly announced last-gen first party game in the entire show, as Nintendo increasingly focuses on Switch 2.
Switch 2 exclusive Mario Tennis Fever by Camelot was revealed next, launching February 12th 2026, it features new modes, new defensive maneuvers and special rackets, 38 playable characters, and a fully 3D Adventure Mode focused on the Baby Mario cast. Super Mario Bros Wonder Switch 2 Edition and a brand new Switch 2-exclusive 2D platformer Yoshi and the Mysterious Book are both scheduled to launch in Spring 2026. Mario Wonder for Switch 2 will upgrade the base game while adding the Meetup in Bellabel Park expansion, which features multiplayer minigames/challenge levels and new single player levels which will be detailed later, but the Koopalings and playable Rosalina were both hinted at already. After yarn yoshi and diorama yoshi, Mysterious Book offers stop-motion style visuals + storybook art, and familiarly slow and simple gameplay, this time centered around filling in an encyclopedia of wildlife.
To start off third party news, a co op roguelike sidescrolling brawler inspired by 80s anime, Storm Lancers, was shadowdropped as a full Switch 1 exclusive. The Australian life sim Dinkum was announced to be releasing November 5th 2025 as a timed Switch 1 exclusive. Popucom was announced to be releasing for Switch in Holiday 2025 after launching on PC this summer: this is an exclusively multiplayer shooter with a co op campaign and party mode, and astonishingly also a Puyo Puyo inspired match three game. Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection reappeared with its October release and December physical edition. Isometric indie action RPG/life sim Lynked: Banner of the Spark was shadowdropped for Switch 1 and Switch 2 with mouse controls supported. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade was announced to be releasing for Switch 2 and Xbox Series S|X on January 22nd 2026. The Remake ports feature several new difficulty toggles that collectively make up a God Mode to simplify combat and focus on the story.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream reappeared, updating its release window to Spring 2026 and highlighting main life sim features like the character creator, feeding the Miis, and socializing the Miis. Supergiant Games finally announced that Hades 2’s 1.0 version will digitally launch on September 25th 2025 for PC, Switch, and Switch 2, with a complete cross-gen Switch 2 Edition cartridge releasing on November 20th 2025, and with PS/Xbox releases next year. Like Switch 2’s other titanic indie releases, Hades 2 features 1080p120fps support in docked mode, and it has cross-save between PC and Switches. A second Kirby Air Riders Direct hosted by Masahiro Sakurai was confirmed to be coming soon, and amiibos for the game were announced as well. Koei Tecmo announced that Hyrule Warriors 3: Age of Imprisonment will launch on November 6th 2025, featuring GameShare support, a playable Korok, and Zonai equipment.
After previously being leaked, Square Enix revealed Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, a fully 3D remake coming on February 5th 2026 for PC, Switch/Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series S|X, codeveloped by HexaDrive, the makers of The 3rd Birthday, the Super Bomberman R series, and codevs on Wind Waker HD. Yuji Hori has since commented that there are already other remakes in development than 1-3 and 7, 7 just progressed its development faster. Next up, coming on February 17th 2026 to the premium tier of Nintendo Switch Online for both Switch generations, is none other than Nintendo’s VR flop the Virtual Boy with its minuscule software lineup of 14 games. A separate proprietary accessory is required to play these games, either the $100 hardware option or the $25 cardboard option, because Labo never dies, baby. Koei Tecmo revealed Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake and announced that it will launch in Early 2026 for PC, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series S|X. The original is generally regarded as the best entry in this survival horror series, and it leapfrogged Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented to get rereleased first after the 4 and 5 remasters. Capcom announced that Monster Hunter Stories 3 will launch on March 13th 2026.
Powerwash Simulator 2 was officially announced to be coming to Switch 2 in its initial Fall 2025 launch, while various new Switch 2 Edition upgrades were announced to be coming throughout this Fall and next Spring: One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, Overcooked 2, Human Fall Flat, and Stardew Valley(!) Stardew will include mouse controls, 4 player splitscreen, and GameShare. Suika Game Planet, a brand new sequel to the hit puzzler Suika Game, was newly revealed by its makers AladdinX, a subsidiary of Chinese megacorp Baidu. It’s coming Winter 2025 to Switch and Switch 2, with GameShare support, and features fusing and evolving fruits on top of sorting them like the last game. Koei Tecmo announced that the current gen exclusive Dynasty Warriors Origins will release for Switch 2 on January 22nd 2026 alongside its new DLC on all platforms.
A paid DLC expansion and free demo were both shadowdropped for DK Bananza, with the former featuring a new roguelike mode encompassing all existing levels in the game, and the new DK Isle hub area. Game Freak and Koei Tecmo’s Dragon Quest Builders 2 team revealed Pokémon Pokopia coming in Spring 2026 exclusively to Switch 2: this is a life sim starring a Ditto in human form, which builds an island community by borrowing type-elemental powers from other Pokémon. Game Freak also showcased several new Mega Evolutions for Pokémon Legends Z-A, including the three original Kalos starters who were infamously overshadowed by the Kanto starters in X&Y, and announced the game’s Mega Dimensions paid DLC, which stars Hoopa and two different Raichu Mega Evolutions, set to launch by the end of February ’26. Retro Studios offered a new trailer announcing that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will launch on December 4th 2025, showcasing new environments and gameplay features like a new whip power and, most notably, large sandbox areas bridging the main levels, featuring combat, resource gathering, and yes, motorcycle traversal. There will also be amiibos of Samus’ motorcycle and the villain Sylux.
Spike Chunsoft revealed Danganronpa 2 by 2, a remake of 2012’s Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair which also features a full length new story written and directed by Kazutaka Kodaka himself, which is to say they put Danganronpa 4 inside of a remake, for some reason. It’s coming to PC, Switch/Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series S|X in 2026. In the Japanese version of the Direct, Capcom announced Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, which is releasing in 2026 for PC, Switch, PS4/5, and Xbox One/Xbox Series S|X. The final third party sizzle reel featured Sega’s Two Point Museum coming to Switch 2 October 28th, Disgaea 7 Complete coming to Switch 2 October 10th, EA Sports FC 26, Dragon Quest 1+2 HD2D, Lego Voyagers releasing cross-gen on September 15th, Little Nightmares 3 cross-gen on October 10th, Persona 3 Reload for Switch 2 on October with a demo shadowdropped, and Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O World Stage coming to Switch 2 in Winter 2025.
And now for the Two More Things, starting with Capcom announcing that the entire modern Resident Evil saga will arrive natively on Switch 2, with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil 8: Village, and Resident Evil 9 Requiem all launching on February 27th 2026, day 1 with Requiem on other platforms. A brand new trailer showcased real RE9 Switch 2 footage while featuring the returning Spencer Mansion and a mysterious new villain. The RE9 port has already proven to a compelling showpony for the Switch 2’s capabilities, with few obvious compromises and Capcom saying the port has been easy to make. Another interview provided more general insight into the game as a whole. The Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 Remakes are expected to arrive by the end of 2026, with future remakes also being a Day 1 launch.
Lastly, Intelligent Systems revealed a brand new Switch 2 exclusive Fire Emblem coming in 2026, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, showcasing four main playable characters competing at a Colosseum for the Heroic Games tournament, looking to be granted a wish by the Divine Sovereign. Tactical combat and free-roam hub areas both return of course, now with stronger visuals than ever and a weather system, in a world with a Roman and North African aesthetic. As the trailer escalates, Crests and Hero’s Relics, Gambits, Demonic Beasts, and finally Sothis herself all make appearances, revealing that this is a direct successor to 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the series’ bestseller and one of my all time favorite games. The game appears to be set outside of Fodlan in either the distant past or distant future. Three out of the four highlighted main characters are Black, sending a clear message from Intelligent Systems about improved representation. Resident Evil and Three Houses 2 as the One More Thing is so extremely targeted at me, so thanks Nintendo!
With many more undated games all scheduled for Spring, Nintendo is set up for plenty more news updates in the near future, hopefully in a full February Direct. A lot of games are already scheduled for next year, four in the spring and three that are just 2026, but I’m quite sure we still haven’t seen the big holiday games yet. Splatoon Raiders and Rhythm Heaven Groove were missing in action in this show, but they are most likely to be summer games. Pokémon Generation 10 is already known to be a holiday 2026 game, leaving room for at least one more major release alongside it, which based on timelines could most likely be from Next Level Games, Monolith Soft, or Mercury Steam. Some kind of Zelda rerelease for the anniversary is possible. Animal Crossing and Mario/Kirby look to be a little further out, like 2027, while Smash and Zelda are of course even further away.
Here are some quick calendar guesses from yours truly.
January 2026: Pokémon Champions, February: Mario Tennis Fever, March: Pokémon Pokopia, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, April: Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition, May: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, June: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, July: Splatoon Raiders, August: Rhythm Heaven Groove, September: Metroid 6, Zelda – A Link between Worlds Remaster, October: The Duskbloods, Luigi’s Mansion 4, November: Pokémon Wind and Pokémon Wave
And here’s a quick filesize recap for all of us minding our storage limits: The Mario Galaxy Collection is less than 10GB, Mario Tennis Fever is 10GB, Kirby Air Riders is 25GB, Metroid Prime 4 is 29GB on Switch 1 and 31-32GB on Switch, Hyrule Warriors 3 is 45GB, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is a whopping 88GB.
September 13th: Multiple members of the games industry have been fired over “disrespectful comments” after the assassination of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk, with PlayStation and Sucker Punch Productions firing an artist who worked on Ghost of Yotei, while Ready or Not developer Void Interactive fired their community manager. Indie developer ProbablyMonsters also fired an employee over this issue. Right wing harassment within the gaming community is now disturbingly emboldened by the power of the entire government apparatus behind it.
September 15th: Developer LocalThunk delayed the 1.1 update for Balatro into 2026 in order to keep a healthier work schedule.
September 16th: AdHoc Studio announced that their narrative adventure game Dispatch will launch on October 22nd 2025 for PC and PS5, with weekly episodic releases through November 12th. This stuntcast superhero workplace comedy from ex-Telltale devs has been highly anticipated since its Game Awards 2024 reveal.
Palworld will officially release its 1.0 update in 2026 and end early access after more than two years, bringing story content and bugfixes in the process.
French publication Jeux Vidéo Magazine has reported about the oft-leaked, still currently unannounced Assassins’ Creed Black Flag Remake, suggesting that the game was recently pushed from a holiday 2025 launch to March 2026 and could still be delayed again. The article reveals many new details.
September 17th: The legal battle between Subnautica 2’s owners Krafton/Unknown Worlds and the game’s original creators has escalated into strange new places where both the judge and the lawyers in the case are “bewildered” by the corporation’s actions. Krafton has failed to cooperate with the court’s procedures and abruptly, radically changed its arguments against the departed trio of developers, completely dropping the original accusation of developers rushing Subnautica 2 out the door and refusing to provide evidence to support the claim even though it was on-record as why they were fired. Krafton has fully pivoted to the accusation of the founders keeping confidential company info even though it only learned of that after they were already fired and despite evidence that those downloads are legally in the clear.
Krafton thus requested the court to approve a forensic inspection of the founders’ personal devices and an “order compelling preservation” to ensure the founders don’t destroy relevant evidence, but Judge Lori W. Will denied both of those requests. Judge Will supported one of Krafton’s counterarguments to requests of evidence by the founders’ lawyers, but she otherwise found Krafton to be obstructive and contradictory, and mandated that Krafton’s legal team meet again with the founders’ to further discuss evidence Krafton should submit for review.
Paradox Interactive has responded to controversy and significantly changed its DLC plans for Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 shortly before its launch, putting the popular Lasombra and Toreador clan options into the base game and releasing two full fledged story expansions in 2026 to take the previous Day 1 DLC’s place.
Nintendo announced that two Bandai Namco titles, Mr. Driller 2 and Klonoa: Empire of Dreams will join the NSO Game Boy Advance library.
September 19th: Rebekah Valentine reported for IGN that Nintendo of America is once again massively mistreating its contractor employees, firing hundreds of customer service contractors, most of whom had been relying on it as steady long-term work, and exclusively outsourcing their positions over to South America after mishandling and rushing the process of training the new workers. In every step of this process, Nintendo has prioritized cost-cutting, leaving both its now-former employees and the new contractors very vulnerable. The South American employees are suffering from under-training, language barriers, and losing the short-term safety net of support from the exiting senior employees, while starting their tenures in the high pressure environment of Switch 2’s first holiday sales. The new contractors are already being subjected to racial harassment and slurs from customers.
Microsoft announced that it will raise prices on Xbox Series S|X hardware in the US for the second time this year, further cementing that these consoles are deader than dust, since Xbox already saw sales crater and stock discontinued at most retailers before the last price hike. As of October 3rd, the Series S will go up by $20 to $400 base and $450 with more storage, the Series X will go up by $50 or $70 to a range of $600, $650, and $800.
September 20th: Tameem Antoniades, the departed cofounder of Ninja Theory and writer-director of Hellblade 1 (he is said to have little involvement in the sequel despite a writing credit), publicly commented on the death of Charlie Kirk by challenging people to prove he was racist and calling him “principled” and “misrepresented.” This isn’t Antoniades’ first reactionary controversy, he infamously made homophobic remarks about Devil May Cry in defense of his 2013 DmC reboot.
September 22nd: The latest piece of horrific and tasteless social media propaganda out of the Trump Administration also committed copyright infringement by using the Pokémon anime’s imagery and original English theme song without the company’s permission.
Devolver Digital announced that it will publish The Dungeon Experience from developer Bone Assembly: this comedic first person game is about a low level fantasy dungeon monster trying to own and operate his dungeon.
September 23rd: The Game Developers Conference organizers made a tremendously tone deaf and miscalculated decision by announcing a rebrand to the GDC Festival of Gaming, which will remain based in the United States next year but will have an E3 style emphasis on courting public customeDXsfg
Due to negative reception over performance issues on all versions of Borderlands 4, Gearbox elected to indefinitely delay the Switch 2 port and refund all preorders.
In promotion with the film Avatar 3: Fire and Ash, Ubisoft announced that a new, large story expansion themed after the film is coming for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on December 19th 2025. The expansion stand-alone costs $25, while a new bundle of the game and expansion is $40.
Larian unexpectedly announced yet another patch for Baldur’s Gate 3, with Hotfix #34 improving optimization and performance across all platforms for the main Act 3 area, the dense titular city of Baldur’s Gate, and also creating an improved “native” Steam Deck port. Larian previously said that developing the Series S port led to optimizations that benefited all versions of the game, and I believe these optimizations are tied to an upcoming Switch 2 port.
Nintendo shadowdropped its first internally developed brand new mobile game in six years in the form of Fire Emblem Shadows, a collaboration between Intelligent Systems and DeNA which uses Among Us style social deduction gameplay.
Tokyo Game Show
Hideo Kojima hosted a livestream commemorating the tenth anniversary of his departure from Konami, providing several smaller announcements after just launching Death Stranding 2. xCloud exclusive horror game OD had its gameplay reveal trailer featuring actress Sophia Lillis, MGS spiritual successor PhysInt got a new poster and cast announcements (Don Lee/Ma Dong-seok, Charlee Fraser, Minami Hamabe), the two Death Stranding movies got updates, and some other silly stuff happened.
September 24th: RGG Summit – Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku had several announcements for the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series in time for Tokyo Game Show, chief among them Yakuza Kiwami 3, a remake of the 2009 PS3 game following the previous Kiwami remakes, launching February 12th 2026 for PC, PS4 and PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series S|X. Kiwami 3 will come bundled with another Gaiden spinoff entry, Dark Ties depicting the backstory of Yoshitaka Mine, a memorable antagonist from Yakuza 3. The first two remakes will also be receiving native current gen PS5 and Xbox versions on December 8th, and Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut will come to PS5 and Xbox Series S|X on the same date after six months of Switch 2 timed exclusivity. RGG itself accidentally leaked Kiwami 3 ahead of its announcement by briefly listing it on the series’ website.
Sony State of Play: The presentation opened with Housemarque’s Saros gameplay reveal trailer, depicting an evolution of Returnal’s AAA bullet hell while announcing that the game will launch on March 20th 2026. The game features a shield that absorbs and repulses enemy blasts, one real-time respawn before your runs are fully ended, and a more expansive story with a larger NPC count. Next was Disco Elysium maker ZA/UM offering gameplay footage for Zero Parades, which is scheduled to be coming next year to PC and PS5. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was officially announced to be releasing for PS5 on December 8th 2025 as the latest first party game to cross over. It also has a PSVR2 version in development. The campaign mode for Battlefield 6 was highlighted. Embracer Group, Eidos, and Aspyr revealed Deus Ex Remastered, an overhaul of the classic which is coming February 5th 2026 to PC, PS5, Switch 1, and Xbox Series S|X.
Illfonic’s Halloween: The Game had its gameplay reveal and was announced to be launching September 8th 2026. 11th Hour Games announced that its 2024 action RPG Last Epoch will be releasing for PS5 in 2026 alongside the debut of its first major expansion. The Seven Deadly Sins: Origins was announced to be launching January 28th 2026. Mega Man and Proto Man were announced as the latest guest DLC characters for Sonic Racing Crossworlds, coming in early 2026 alongside a stage from their franchise, though this was leaked by copies of the game that broke street date. Koei Tecmo showcased Nioh 3 again, announcing that it will launch February 6th 2026, and revealing Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered which will launch March 19th 2026 for PC, PS5, Switch and Switch 2, and Xbox Series. Bandai Namco showed Code Vein 2 again and announced that it will launch January 30th 2026. GungHo revealed Let it Die: Inferno, a roguelite followup to the original FTP multiplayer game, coming December 3rd 2025.
Shueisha Games and Deskworks Inc revealed Chronoscript: The Endless End, a hand drawn action platformer scheduled to launch in 2026 for PC and PS5. Pearl Abyss and their action RPG Crimson Desert reappeared, launching March 19th 2026. As the show began to wrap up, Sony highlighted new proprietary wireless speakers with 3D Audio support which are compatible with PC, PS5, and PS Portal. PlayStation Plus catalog additions were discussed, most notably Alan Wake 2 and Last of Us 2 Remastered, and three PS Plus Classics: Tekken 3 and Soul Calibur 3 from Bandai Namco, and Tomb Raider Anniversary from Embracer Group. The Gran Turismo series reached 100 million total sales, a milestone commemorated with a new update coming to Gran Turismo 7 in December. A God of War 20th Anniversary controller was announced.
Lastly, Insomniac debuted the gameplay reveal trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine, showing a fast paced montage of M-rated violent combat, various locales like Canada and Japan, my sapphic shapeshifter icon Mystique was confirmed as a main character, and a Fall 2026 launch window was officially announced, five years after the game was first announced in 2021. Liam McIntyre was confirmed to be portraying the game’s Wolverine. The game’s next appearance was confirmed to be Spring 2026.
Xbox Showcase: Microsoft and Xbox’s latest gesture to the Japanese market was headlined by the official reveal of Forza Horizon 6, confirming details that had already leaked like the Japanese setting and 2026 launch; the game will initially come to PC and Xbox Series S|X with the PS5 port confirmed to be coming later. IO Interactive had a new trailer for 007 First Light, featuring Gemma Chan as a support agent for Bond, and the next Elusive Target mission for Hitman: World of Assassination, featuring 47 teaming up with Bruce Lee. Suda51 and Swery had a launch trailer for their game Hotel Barcelona. Square Enix shadowdropped its Romancing SaGa 2 Remake onto Xbox Series S|X.
Smaller announcements out of TGS include Level-5 finally lifting the lid on Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, confirming a delay into 2026 but also providing extended gameplay footage for the first time. Capcom announced that the original Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy on modern consoles will receive a new major update on November 19th, adding QOL features from more recent rereleases like the no-puzzles Story Mode, new translations, art gallery, music player, and more. Annapurna Interactive announced three new indie games that it picked up for publishing: D-Topia by Marumittu Games, a puzzle game coming to PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series, People of Note by Iridium Studios, a musical turn based RPG coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series, and Demi & the Fractured Dream by Yarn Owl, an action platformer coming to PC, PS5, Switch and Switch 2, and Xbox Series.
September 25th: Microsoft gave its biggest response yet to the BDS movement but still fell short of the mark by announcing that it has terminated access to its cloud and AI services to one key division of the Israeli Defense Force, the infamous Unit 8200 devoted to cyberwarfare, surveillance, and espionage. Unit 8200 proceeded to start using Amazon Web Services cloud servers instead. The recent exposé by The Guardian and +972 Magazine made a real difference, but unfortunately Microsoft’s extensive partnership with the Israeli military remains otherwise intact, it only killed the most egregious single part of the larger contract, and so now more than ever when it has proven to be vulnerable to this pressure, we must continue to boycott Microsoft.
Robin Light-Williams sadly announced that her business partner Andrew Dice has suddenly passed away and that she is now shutting down their two-person company Carpe Fulgur. Carpe Fulgur was one of the foremost studios for translating/localizing independent Japanese games to help them achieve overseas distribution.
Tencent just sold off Splash Damage to private equity, after laying off employees earlier this year and canceling the developer’s Transformers multiplayer shooter.
Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser announced that he was retiring from the position after six years as the successor to Reggie Fils-Aimé, and he will be replaced on January 1st 2026 by Devon Pritchard, an Executive Vice President who has worked at NOA for 20 years. Pritchard will be the first woman to lead Nintendo of America. Also, longtime Japanese executive Satoru Shibata is becoming the CEO of NOA, a position that hasn’t been filled since the passing of Satoru Iwata ten years ago.
After years of informal discussion, Hoyoverse formally revealed its next game, the Animal Crossing inspired life sim Petit Planet, starting its first beta test earlier this year.
September 26th: After previously laying off many employees and canceling a game project, indie developer ProbablyMonsters has seen former employees speak out over the company’s workplace mismanagement and cultural issues.
September 29th: First being leaked on September 26th in a Wall Street Journal report and then officially confirmed three days later, this is a huge story and another devastating development for the games industry, and media as a whole:
Electronic Arts is being bought out for $55 billion by a consortium of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, and two private equity firms including Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, saddling the publisher with $20 billion in debt to co-finance the sale much like when Discovery bought Warner Bros, and the company will be fully taken private with all shareholders escaping in golden parachutes after the deal’s completion in 2026. Jared Kushner personally spearheaded these negotiations with CEO Andrew Wilson occurring behind closed doors throughout much of this year. This will in all likelihood make a famously bad publisher worse, leading to things like shedding hardworking employees to make up for this $20 billion loan, shedding the company’s more artistically meaningful output like RPGs from Bioware and Respawn, threatening a queer friendly culture cultivated at divisions like Maxis, an even further prioritization of the destructive and worthless Large Language Model AIs. On top of the larger wave of right wing control over every level of media, as seen with Bari Weiss being hired at CBS News.
September 30th: Following the recent cancelation of Xbox project Contraband, Avalanche Studios announced significantly more layoffs, including the complete closure of the Liverpool office.
During an investors’ meeting, Bloober Team confirmed that their Silent Hill 1 Remake has entered production alongside an unspecified second game from their main team, along with several smaller external projects.
October 1st: Microsoft announced another massive overhaul and price hike to Xbox Game Pass after the previous one last year, with the headlining announcement being that Game Pass Ultimate, the flagship product with its Day 1 first party releases, now costing a whopping $30 a month or $360 a year, while the medium tier will now cost $20 a month, the last price for Ultimate. PC Game Pass is now $16.50 a month. The two lower tiers are now rebranded and have full xCloud support after that had largely remained exclusive to Ultimate before: Game Pass Core is now Game Pass Essential and Game Pass Standard is now Game Pass Premium. First party releases on Premium are now standardized to within a year of launch, except for Call of Duty. A large catalog addition for Game Pass Ultimate was announced to soften the blow, but it mainly consists of the TERF RPG, Ubisoft back catalog games from Ubisoft+, and the Fortnite Crew subscription service. The Game Pass webpage crashed the same day due to an influx of users attempting to cancel their subscription.
A young man pled guilty to sending death threats to Epic Games last year. He faces fines and up to five years in prison. At the same time, another fresh example of developer harassment occurred when a Tiktok influencer flew from the US to Scotland to personally harass Rockstar employees at their office over the wait for GTA6. He has proudly pinned the video to the top of his channel.
After successfully launching the Dune Awakening MMO earlier this year, Funcom announced that it was laying off some employees.
Epic Games and Harmonix announced that Rock Band 4 will be digitally delisted on its tenth anniversary due to music licenses expiring. It will remain playable for existing owners.
After years of struggle for the Amazon Luna cloud streaming service, the ruthless megacorp announced a pitiful reboot for it which focuses on cheap party games including an AI-powered courtroom game featuring Judge Snoop Dogg.
October 2nd: After years of turmoil, the UK office for ZA/UM has unionized, becoming the UK’s first gaming union after receiving recognition from leadership. ZA/UM will be represented by the Independent Worker’s Union of Great Britain.
Starbreeze canceled its Dungeons & Dragons project, laying off 44 developers between contractors and full-time staff and writing down almost $30 million in production costs in order to fully focus on supporting Payday 2 and Payday 3.
Dan Forden announced that he was leaving NetherRealm after over 30 years serving as audio director for every single game in the Mortal Kombat franchise and famously performing the Toasty line.
October 3rd: A major security vulnerability in the Unity engine was discovered eight years after it was introduced, leading many developers to scramble to patch their games as soon as possible, even temporarily delisting their games from sale to minimize risk, which Obsidian did with games like Pentiment and Pillars of Eternity 2. At this time there is no evidence of someone actively using the security issue and affecting anyone, this is entirely about prevention.
Right before its scheduled October Early Access release, multiplayer medieval game Kingmakers was indefinitely delayed by its developer Redemption Road.
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