Battlefield 6's latest battle pass skins have drawn fan criticism over design flaws, including a soldier carrying five pistols and a patch that misspells "security" as "secuty." Some players now suspect the skins were made with generative AI, while others feel misled because DICE had said before launch that Battlefield 6 would not feature goofy, immersion-breaking skins. IGN has asked EA for comment.
Aream & Co reports that games industry M&A totaled $57.8bn in Q3. The figure includes EA's $55bn leveraged buyout.
Investment bank Aream & Co reports 54 games industry M&A deals worth $57.8 billion in the third quarter, including the $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts completed on August 5. Content-focused M&A accelerated, with 18 control deals for developers and publishers above $100 million year-to-date, concentrated in Asia, including Alibaba's sale of Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital, Netmarble founder Bang Jun-hyuk's $270 million purchase of Tencent's stake, and Sony Music Entertainment's $180 million minority stake in GungHo. Public market revenue rose 122% year-on-year to $1.3 billion across 13 deals, while console revenue fell 12% to $14.1 billion, with Nintendo down 18%, Xbox 10% and PlayStation 9%.
EA and Full Circle - the developer behind the new early access Skate game (skate.) - don't have a problem with modders and "creativity from players," but they're drawing the line with mods that aim to unlock paid microtransactions and unreleased content. https://bit.ly/4hP8aZ7
The EU announced action against ten companies including Activision Blizzard, Mojang, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Crytek, Supercell, InnoGames, King, Plarium and Playrix, led by the Italian Competition Authority, over platform-specific virtual currencies that rarely match the price players want to pay. The press release also cites virtual currency bundles, dark patterns, inadequate parental controls and a lack of assistance when accounts are blocked. Epic has said that starting this month players can spend exact amounts of V-Bucks on specific purchases, except on PlayStation.
Bit Reactor, the developer of Star Wars Zero Company, said this week on Bluesky that it has begun undoing the furloughs that affected over 80% of its staff. CEO Greg Foertsch said the move was a response to unexpected business developments outside the studio's control and was necessary to eventually bring as many people back as possible. Game File cited an unnamed source familiar with the situation saying payroll is back above half its pre-furlough level.
Full Circle issued a statement on the ReSkate mod, saying it does not oppose player creativity but draws the line at mods that bypass its systems to unlock paid cosmetics, release gated content, or profit from unauthorized assets. ReSkate drew over 350 thousand downloads in its first week and runs through Steam's Proton emulation, with its most popular feature being the ability to play the free-to-play game offline. Full Circle says it will add official secure access tools for broader community creation, while ReSkate's developers say they did not intend to undercut the studio and would not fight back if EA's legal team came knocking.
EA and Full Circle issued a statement on mods for the early access game skate., saying they support player creativity but oppose tools that bypass their systems to unlock paid cosmetics, release gated content, or profit from unauthorized assets. The statement follows the modding platform ReSkate reaching 350,000 downloads in hours, offering offline play, custom maps, cosmetics, and servers for the online-only game. ReSkate's developers told PC Gamer they were not trying to replace the live game, and its official channels do not allow mods that freely grant premium cosmetics.
Full Circle, the developer of Skate, published a statement on October 9 addressing community mods after the fan-made modding platform ReSkate went viral. ReSkate lets players play offline, run private servers and build their own maps, and has been downloaded over 350,000 times on GitHub. Full Circle said it supports community creativity but opposes mods that bypass systems to unlock paid cosmetics, release unreleased content or profit from it, and said it is building official, secure creation tools with more news to come later. Skate's active player count peaked above 7,000 on October 5, its highest in months since the game launched in September 2025.
EA announced on the game's official social channels that Star Wars Zero Company, the strategy title from Bit Reactor and Respawn, has sold over one million copies. The same post teased a version 1.2 update due next week without detailing its contents. Bit Reactor has recently been able to bring some furloughed staff back to work.
Richard Garriott is about to take the Ultima rights back from Electronic Arts. He released the first Ultima in 1981 and a decade later sold the series and his studio Origin Systems to EA for $30 million. He later worked on the MMO Tabula Rasa and spent time as a private astronaut.
Publisher Assemble Entertainment has announced that Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry and Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice will be delisted from Steam on October 23, following the removal of the previous seven games last year. Both titles are currently discounted by 95% on Steam, GOG, and Nintendo Switch, priced at $1.99 / £0.89 each. It is not yet clear whether the Xbox and PlayStation stores will also receive the discount or whether the games will be removed from other storefronts.
Ampere Analysis data shows Marvel's Wolverine sold 2.16 million units in September, with 35% of those sales on physical disc. In Europe, 51% of sales came from the boxed version, while France saw over two thirds physical and the UK two thirds digital. The data arrives as Sony plans to phase out physical disc production for PlayStation by 2028.
Game designer Richard Garriott has confirmed he will regain the rights to the Ultima series from Electronic Arts. He sold the series and his studio Origin Systems to EA in 1992 for $30 million, and under Section 203 of the US Copyright Act authors can terminate past copyright transfers after 35 years; he notified EA in April. Garriott said he gets the rights back officially in 2027 and is in active talks with EA about possible Ultima projects, after which he could re-release the earlier games or make sequels.
Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor has begun returning some furloughed developers to payroll, with staff numbers reportedly back to "more than half" of what they were before the furloughs. Studio boss Greg Foertsch said they hope to "eventually bring as many people back as possible." The furloughs became public through an ongoing lawsuit between Foertsch and former COO Alison Kelly, and some staff reportedly remain unpaid.
Bit Reactor has confirmed it is bringing some furloughed staff back to work to continue supporting Star Wars Zero Company. CEO Greg Foertsch said furloughing roughly 80% of the team before launch, after the studio ran out of money, was a difficult but necessary decision made internally without publisher EA's involvement. It is not yet clear whether everyone furloughed will return, and the studio says more updates on Bit Reactor and Zero Company are coming.
Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars: Zero Company, began returning some furloughed developers to work this week, CEO Greg Foertsch called it an important step forward. The studio furloughed around 80% of its workforce weeks before launch, and Game File reports more than half of its overall headcount is back on payroll while a fair number of workers remain in limbo. The tactics game sold over 1m copies shortly after release.
A fan-made modding platform called ReSkate makes EA's early access free-to-play skateboarding game Skate playable offline, with support for private servers, custom maps and other mods. It had been downloaded over 350,000 times from GitHub as of Tuesday. Its two creators told PC Gamer they will comply if EA sends a cease and desist, but ReSkate is open source and already has more than 70 forks on GitHub.
Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, said some developers furloughed before the game's launch have begun returning to work, calling the earlier move a response to unexpected business developments outside its control. Game File reports the studio's headcount is back to over half of what it was before launch, while Alinea Analytics estimates the game, made with Respawn Entertainment and EA, has sold over 1 million copies. Bit Reactor did not specify which business developments it meant, and the studio and cofounder Greg Foertsch are in a legal dispute with former chief finance officer Alison Kelly.
After completing its acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, Electronic Arts still faces creditors over previously issued bonds. The consortium borrowed $20 billion from JPMorgan as leveraged debt, which could weaken EA's credit profile and cost it its investment grade rating. According to The Wall Street Journal, one group of bondholders is seeking 101 percent repayment on two $750 million tranches totaling $1.5 billion, while EA is converting its bonds into assets resembling U.S. Treasury securities by splitting principal and interest.
Sony Pictures is reportedly the frontrunner to secure the rights to a Battlefield movie, with Universal, Netflix, Amazon MGM Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery also submitting bids. Christopher McQuarrie is attached to direct, write, and produce, with Michael B. Jordan in the mix to star and produce. Paramount previously bought the rights to a Battlefield TV show a decade ago, but it never materialized.
The European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network named nine game companies, including Activision Blizzard UK, Mojang AB, Riot Games Limited, Supercell Oy and Ubisoft EMEA SAS, in a joint statement on September 30, 2026, asking them to align their in-game currency and transaction systems with the Key Principles released in March 2025. The principles require games to show the real-world price of items bought with virtual currency, avoid obscuring costs through multiple currencies or exchanges, and let players withdraw from contracts within two weeks, including for unused virtual currency. Commissioner Michael McGrath said roughly half of Europeans play video games and the industry must ensure its games do not expose players, especially children, to harmful or unfair practices.
Analyst firm Alinea Analytics estimates that Star Wars Zero Company, the turn-based tactics game from Bit Reactor, has sold more than 1m copies. Steam accounts for 69.9 percent of sales, PlayStation 19.9 percent and Xbox 10.2 percent, with analyst Rhys Elliott estimating about $50m in revenue since its 27th August launch. Most of Bit Reactor's development team had reportedly been furloughed without pay before release amid an owners' dispute and a lack of funds, raising the question of whether they will be reinstated and paid from the game's revenue.
Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is considering merging Electronic Arts with its subsidiary Savvy Games Group to "ensure better coordination between its assets." Sources said merging EA into Savvy is unlikely until Savvy completes its $6 billion acquisition of Chinese mobile games company Moonton. The PIF-led $55 billion leveraged buyout of EA closed last month, making it the developer's majority owner; the PIF and EA declined to comment to Bloomberg, and a Savvy spokesperson did not respond.