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Sep 30Wed
  1. Eurogamer58

    Sony introduces anti-scalping lottery system for PS5 Pro purchases in Japan

    Sony is introducing a lottery system for PS5 Pro purchases on its Japanese online store to handle demand that outstrips limited supply. Applicants need a Sony account registered in Japan that has logged more than 60 hours of play over the past two years, and applications run from today until 7th October. If applications exceed available stock, a lottery will be held, with winners notified on 26th October and required to pay ¥137,980 within a week or lose their spot.

  2. Kotaku58

    Crimson Desert's First Major Paid DLC Delayed Two Weeks for Polish

    Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert's first major paid DLC, Charting the Unknown, from October 15 to October 29. The $25 expansion adds seafaring, home building, and new quests and storyline, and the studio said it needs more development time for a more polished and stable experience. The studio had previously shipped patches and updates rapidly after the game's March 2026 release and renamed it Crimson Desert Enhanced in August to consolidate 17 patches and content additions.

  3. VGC62

    Mario Kart Tour has officially shut down, estimated to have earned Nintendo around $270 million

    Nintendo's mobile game Mario Kart Tour officially shut down at 22:59 PT on September 29, with players no longer able to log into its servers. Launched in September 2019, it ended with 267 playable characters, 340 karts, 238 gliders and 546 courses. Estimates from AppMagic cited by Mobilegamer.biz put downloads at over 276 million and lifetime revenue at around $268.5 million, with monthly revenue falling from roughly $5-6 million in most of 2020 and 2021 to about $650,000 when Nintendo announced the closure in July 2026.

  5. GamesIndustry.biz62

    Valve updates Steam's Discount & Events section toward dynamic, personalised listings

    Valve is updating Steam's Discount & Events section, moving from manual, calendar-based placements to a more dynamic and personalised system to improve discoverability. Valve said the shift lets it display ten times more games daily and has produced increases in store page visits, wishlists and cart additions, with the new system to be fully implemented in early 2027 and new tools coming for developers. Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender said the section, once weighted toward best-selling games, is now showing indie titles with under a hundred to a few thousand reviews, with some small games going from near-zero visits to a few thousand.

  7. GamesIndustry.biz22

    Global game content revenue forecast to rise 2.3% to $229.1bn in 2030, supported by PC and Asia-Pacific market

    Global game content revenue is projected to grow from $204.4 billion in 2025 to $229.1 billion in 2030, a 2.3% CAGR, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan. The firm attributes the growth to publishers monetising existing players through live-service retention, premium content, subscriptions and in-game purchases, with PC and Asia-Pacific leading. Cloud gaming is expected to be the fastest-growing segment at a 9.7% CAGR, while console revenue is supported by Grand Theft Auto 6 and Nintendo Switch 2 sales despite a sharply weakened Xbox Series line.

  9. Kotaku62

    PS5 Pro shortage hits Japan as Sony limits purchases to active PlayStation users ahead of GTA 6

    Ahead of GTA 6's release, the PS5 Pro is short in supply in Japan, prompting Sony Japan to introduce purchase limits and a lottery. The system is limited to direct Sony Store purchases and requires a Sony account with at least 60 hours of playtime on PS4 or PS5 between September 27, 2024 and September 27, 2026, with one unit per customer, applications open until October 7, results confirmed by October 26, and delivery in the first half of November. Standard PS5 models remain in stock, and PlayStation sales in Japan have generally lagged behind Nintendo in recent years due to higher hardware prices.

  10. 游戏LOOK62

    Meta unveils AI game creation tools Horizon Create and Horizon Studio

    Meta announced Horizon Create and Horizon Studio at its Meta Connect developer conference, letting users generate complete 2D or 3D mobile games with level design, progression systems and multiplayer from text descriptions, then publish them to Facebook, Instagram and Horizon. Both tools are still in testing with access limited to selected creators and a waitlist for others, and no official launch date was given. Horizon Create is a mobile app that can run multiple creation threads at once, while Horizon Studio is a browser-based platform covering design, editing and post-launch live operations and analytics, with both sharing the same backend.

  11. Nintendo Life26

    Limited Run Announces Lord of the Rings: War in the North Physical Release for Switch 2

    Limited Run Games is distributing the physical version of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Legacy Edition for Switch 2. The standard copy pre-orders open on 2nd October 2026 for $49.99 USD and include a slipcover and Wayfinder's Ledger Booklet, while a Deluxe Edition at $79.99 USD adds a steelcase, cloth map and weathered letter with a foreword by Jed Brophy.

  12. Kotaku62

    Xbox's disc-to-digital rollout opens to all users

    After testing with Insiders, Xbox opened its disc-to-digital program to all Xbox users on September 29, letting most Xbox Series X and Xbox One physical discs claim a digital license. A Kotaku test with Injustice 2 showed a new Claim digital license option in the game's app menu, and playing the game also claims the license automatically. Xbox 360 and original Xbox games are not supported, some publishers have not joined, and a fan-made list suggests at least 1400 games are compatible; the author advises keeping the discs even after digitizing.

  15. Game Developer42

    Former Dying Light franchise lead joins Bloober Team horror imprint Broken Mirror Games

    Tymon Smektala, previously franchise director at Techland for over 13 years, is joining Polish studio Bloober Team as executive director of its horror imprint Broken Mirror Games. He will start by working with the teams behind the already in-production Saw: Genesis and Onyx: The Dark Grip, while seeking new horror projects and creative partnerships. Broken Mirror is a co-development label under Bloober Team that has released Star Trek: Infection and I Hate This Place since being announced in 2024.

  17. Game Informer60

    Game Informer's Grand Theft Auto VI Digital Issue Is Now Live

    Game Informer announced that the digital version of its November 2026 issue, featuring Grand Theft Auto VI on the cover, is now live. The 14-page cover story includes new developer interviews with Rockstar Games and 12 exclusive new screenshots focused on Leonida and how Rockstar recreated the state of Florida ecologically and culturally. The issue also features a 10-page preview of Tides of Annihilation, an interview with Invoke Studios about Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, and previews and reviews of other upcoming games.

Sep 29Tue
  1. Eurogamer60

    Ace Combat 8 pre-order bonus The Belkan War becomes DLC on Steam, sparking controversy

    Early access to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is available for Deluxe Edition owners, but the pre-order bonus Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is now a DLC requiring the base game on Steam, while it remains a standalone app on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The Steam description was changed to state the base game must be installed, forcing players to download roughly 135GB to run a port under 4GB, and preventing standalone play on Steam Deck. Ace Combat 8 currently has a Mixed rating on Steam from over 1,350 reviews ahead of its October 2 release, and Eurogamer has contacted Bandai Namco for comment.

  2. Eurogamer52

    Mexican lawmakers propose consumer rights initiative for digital game ownership

    Mexican Senate digital rights commission president Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas and federal deputy Iraís Reyes unveiled a legislative initiative to clarify whether digital purchases are products or licences and to push for digital preservation after servers shut down. It would also require companies selling digital goods in Mexico to have a Mexican business address so authorities can intervene on consumer rights issues. The pair previously filed an antitrust complaint against Sony over its move away from physical games, with Sony planning to end physical disc support in 2028.

  3. GamesIndustry.biz40

    Sony to skip CES 2027 for first time since expo's inaugural event in 1967

    Sony and its affiliates do not plan to exhibit at CES in 2027, marking Sony's first absence since the event began in 1967. A Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg the decision reflects its current focus on "entertainment, intellectual property, and technology geared to support creators." Sony's usual CES presence has included keynote addresses and PlayStation hardware news, such as the PS5 logo reveal in 2020 and the PlayStation VR2 and Horizon: Call of the Mountain announcement in 2022.

  6. GamesIndustry.biz24

    National Videogame Museum launches UK-wide survey on game preservation

    The National Videogame Museum has launched a UK-wide survey called Behind the Screens, in partnership with Ukie and funded by the BFI's Screen Heritage Fund, asking developers, publishers, studios, former industry professionals and collectors to detail the game-related collections they hold. The results will inform discussions on how the UK can best preserve, celebrate and share its video game heritage and identify where industry collaboration could protect at-risk material. The museum opened in Sheffield in 2018 and says it has welcomed more than 350,000 visitors and holds close to 5,000 video game-related objects.

Sep 28Mon
  1. GamesIndustry.biz57

    Report: Sony surveying developers about dropping PlayStation disc support

    Sony Interactive Entertainment is reportedly sending developers a survey that indirectly asks how they feel about ending physical game sales, according to the Moore's Law is Dead YouTube channel. Sony had announced it would end physical disc production starting in January 2028, citing a shift toward digital media, while Game File reports four-fifths of games bought on PS4 and PS5 last financial year were digital. Industry figures including Iam8bit, Lost in Cult and PM Studios' Michael Yum have criticized the decision.

  5. Game Developer82

    Microsoft CEO says Xbox is simply 'streamlining' after cutting over 5,750 jobs in three years

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the Sources Podcast that the layoffs at Xbox are simply a natural streamlining process and that he feels fantastic about the current IP. Since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in October 2023, Xbox has carried out five rounds of mass layoffs totaling at least 5,750 workers, with the latest round confirmed in July 2026 set to cut 3,200 people from Xbox Game Studios by the end of the current fiscal year, including the divestment of Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Undead Labs. Nadella said new Xbox boss Asha Sharma told him Xbox will achieve growth and produce some great games in the next fiscal year.

  6. GamesIndustry.biz49

    Wardogs studio chief Brammer insists he isn't "pro crunch, I am pro hard work"

    Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer has clarified his remarks on crunch, saying he is not "pro crunch" but "pro hard work." This follows his earlier statement that the studio would not hire people who "constantly tweet anti-crunch messaging," after which he told Eurogamer that staff worked an extra two hours per week Monday-to-Thursday for four weeks while the studio operates a four-day week. Bulkhead was spun out of Tencent in December 2025, and its military shooter Wardogs has sold over three million copies in its first 18 days.

  7. Rock Paper Shotgun51

    Paradox bans Discord profile pics of historical figures born after 1800 after Hearts of Iron 4 player backlash

    Paradox Interactive has banned Discord profile pictures of historical figures born after 1st January 1800, allowing only official in-game portraits, with an exception for prominent Nazi German leaders. The move follows an uproar after a moderator banned a player for using a photo of Republic of Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and game director Laszlo "Batya" Pieper said Paradox never aims to review history or take positions on political figures. The new rule has yet to be formally rolled out, and members will have seven days to comply once it goes live.

  8. GamesIndustry.biz71

    Microsoft CEO Nadella says Xbox has to invent a sustainable business model

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the Sources Podcast that Xbox needs to invent the right sustainable business model to deliver games to more people, and called the streamlining under new Xbox chief Asha Sharma great to see. He expects Xbox to return to growth in the next fiscal year, 2027/28. In July Xbox announced 3,200 layoffs and the divestment of five studios, with another 268 roles cut last week as Halo, Rare and Age of Empires moved under Activision; Matt Booty said two agreements for Ninja Theory fell through and consultation on a proposed closure will begin, while Arkane consultation continues through the end of the year.

  9. 游戏LOOK62

    miHoYo's Liu Wei at SJTU: AI model in China's top tier within 2-3 years, Varsapura testing by year end

    At miHoYo's 2027 campus recruitment talk at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on September 23, 2026, co-founder Liu Wei said miHoYo would be a significant player among Chinese large-model teams within 2 to 3 years, reiterating a plan to invest up to 100 billion yuan in AI over three years. He said the flagship new title Varsapura will have a test by the end of this year, with Cai Haoyu as producer and Unreal Engine 5, and that its main story introduces the world while side stories carry the weight. On Genshin Impact he only said something big is coming, without details, and said older titles like Honkai Gakuen 2 and Honkai Impact 3rd will gradually be sidelined while Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero can sustain ongoing operation.

  10. 游戏LOOK62

    Roblox launches Roblox Everywhere, letting developers ship platform games to Steam and mobile stores

    At RDC 2026 Roblox announced Roblox Everywhere, a plan that lets developers package games made on the platform as standalone apps and publish them to Steam, the App Store, Google Play and even console stores, with Roblox still providing the underlying technology and operations. Roblox shares rose about 13% to close at $51.29 on the following trading day. A Roblox spokesperson told Game Developer that the first creators selected to publish games externally will benefit from the same revenue share economics as the Roblox app, including the higher DevEx rate for verified users aged 18 and over in the US.

Sep 27Sun
  1. Pure Xbox62

    Two Xbox Games Are Shutting Down Their Servers Across October and November 2026

    Two Xbox games are set to shut down their servers across October and November 2026, according to a Pure Xbox roundup. Rocket Racing, playable inside Fortnite, goes offline on October 1, 2026 for all Xbox consoles, while Call of Duty: Warzone shuts down only on Xbox One and PS4 when Season 1 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 begins in late October or early November, with the date still to be determined. The piece also notes that Sociable Soccer 25 servers close on September 28 and the Xbox 360 version of Toy Story 3 is delisted on September 29.

  2. Eurogamer75

    Microsoft CEO calls Xbox's "streamlining" "great to see" despite cuts and layoffs

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the Sources podcast that he feels "fantastic" about Xbox's IP and studios, and called the ongoing streamlining by the team and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma "great to see." His comments came days after another 268 layoffs at Xbox, the apparent impending closure of Ninja Theory, and organizational changes including Obsidian moving under Bethesda, Playground and Turn 10 merging, Undead Labs going independent, and Rare, World's Edge and Halo moving under Activision. In July, Asha Sharma announced 3,200 job cuts, 1,600 of them effective immediately, with Double Fine and Compulsion Games allowed to go independent again.

Sep 26Sat
  1. Eurogamer34

    MobyGames Now Lets Developers Claim Their Game Credits

    Video game database MobyGames now lets developers claim credits for games they worked on and build personal portfolio pages, but only through a new premium tier called MobyGames Professional. The service launched in beta in June with a full 1.0 version due this autumn, and costs $14.99 a month or $11.99 a month with an annual subscription, with a 45-day free trial currently available. Product manager Reece Denzel said thousands of developers have already claimed their pages, though the feature does not let them edit the structural information of their credits or add themselves back if they were removed entirely.

  2. Eurogamer56

    US court orders Redditor to pay Nintendo £3.4m over Switch piracy

    A US District Judge granted Nintendo a $4.5m (£3.4m) default judgment against James Williams, the former Reddit moderator known as Archbox, after he failed to respond to a lawsuit over alleged Nintendo Switch piracy. Nintendo sought $150,000 for each of 30 allegedly pirated games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The judge called the infringement egregious and issued a permanent injunction barring Williams from distributing any pirated Nintendo games or encouraging others to do so.