Xbox is reacting - uncharacteristically quickly - to the deluge of vibe-coded game ports, decompiles and recompiles we've been seeing online in recent weeks by establishing Xbox Labs, a new initiative seemingly designed to explore the phenomenon. https://bit.ly/4s6jjJI
Destiny 1 project, which aims to port the game to PC, seemingly gets a nod from Bungie boss
Former game retailer Zavvi has announced it has entered administration again and ceased trading, with BDO LLP handling the insolvency process. A notice on its website says it cannot fulfil any outstanding orders or pre-orders and cannot accept returns, and advises customers who paid for undelivered goods to contact their bank, card issuer or payment provider about recovering payment. Zavvi's intention to appoint administrators was reported a month ago; the company was formed in 2007 when Virgin Megastores split from Virgin and was bought out of administration by The Hut Group in 2009.
World of Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale spoke at PAX Australia about the World of Warcraft: Forever beta, calling it the biggest beta in Blizzard's history. She said the team has to be selective about feedback, noting "you don't listen to the loudest people in the room." The game fully releases on the 4th November.
Ubisoft announced a proposal to close Finnish studio Ubisoft RedLynx, the long-time developer of the Trials motorbike stunt series, which it acquired in 2011 and which has a 25-year history. Ubisoft Singapore is also losing 70 positions, which the company said is to align the studio with upcoming production needs. RedLynx had already lost more than half its staff in 2025 and the remaining team was told to focus only on mobile games; according to VGC, the closure rationale is that it is not currently working on a new project and resizing alone would not keep it sustainable, affecting 52 staff. Finnish law requires change negotiations before layoffs, so Ubisoft describes the move as a proposal at this stage. The article also notes Ubisoft's share price fell from a 2018 peak of €100 to €3.84 in March 2026 and has hovered around €5 since.
Jason Schreier's report details the challenges behind GTA VI's eight-plus years of development and how Rockstar changed during production. Rockstar grew from 2,441 employees at Red Dead Redemption II's 2018 release to 4,711 across 12 offices, and the game went through a dark period as leadership struggled to settle on its vision. GTA VI was originally codenamed Project Americas and aimed to cover large areas of North and South America before being scaled back to Vice City and its surroundings, with Rockstar leadership maintaining the November 19 release date is achievable.
The Entertainment Software Association has recommended that retro console maker Anbernic be added to the US government's Notorious Market List. GamesIndustry reported the recommendation without further details on the grounds or next steps.
Former game-seller Zavvi enters administration again and "is unable to fulfil any outstanding orders or pre-orders" https://www.eurogamer.net/zavvi-administration-2026-orders
Ubisoft Singapore, the developer of Skull and Bones, is losing 70 staff, about a fifth of its headcount according to GamesIndustry.biz, while Finnish studio RedLynx will close with up to 52 job losses. Ubisoft said in a statement that Ubisoft Singapore remains an important part of its global production organization. RedLynx made the Trials series before becoming a support studio after Trials Rising in 2019.
According to VGC, Ubisoft plans to propose closing RedLynx, the Finnish studio behind the Trials series, affecting around 52 employees. VGC understands RedLynx currently has no active project and that downsizing alone would not make the studio sustainable. Ubisoft also plans to restructure and downsize Ubisoft Singapore, resulting in roughly 70 layoffs, while the RedLynx closure proposal is subject to mandatory change negotiations with employees in Finland.
Ubisoft has proposed closing Finnish studio RedLynx, affecting up to 52 positions subject to local negotiation, while 70 roles are impacted at Ubisoft Singapore, roughly a fifth of its headcount. RedLynx, acquired in 2011 and known for the Trials franchise, had already cut staff in 2025 and shifted toward small-screen titles. The move is the latest step in Ubisoft's cost-reduction programme, which this year has closed studios in Stockholm, Halifax, Winnipeg and Belgrade, cancelled six games and reorganised into six Creative Houses.
VGC understands Ubisoft plans to shut down its Finland-based RedLynx studio and downsize Ubisoft Singapore, resulting in 70 layoffs. RedLynx is known for the Trials series and was acquired by Ubisoft in 2011; the closure proposal would affect around 52 staff and enter mandatory change negotiations in Finland. Ubisoft Singapore was founded in 2008 and has supported most Assassin's Creed games and led work on Skull and Bones.
Ubisoft is closing RedLynx, the developer of the Trials series, and cutting jobs at its Singapore studio. The latest round of cuts proposes the loss of 52 roles in Finland and 70 in Singapore.
Ubisoft is planning to shut down RedLynx, the studio behind the Trials series, and lay off 70 staff at Ubisoft Singapore.
Microsoft announced Xbox Labs, a new initiative led by Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet, who previously led Azure for OpenAI at Microsoft. The news came in a staff message from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma published on Xbox Wire, which never mentions AI or generative AI and instead frames Labs as exploring games being decompiled and rebuilt for hardware they were not designed for. Sharma said Labs is a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists that will build in the open and measure success by whether more people are playing and creating.
Xbox announced a new department called Xbox Labs. Eurogamer describes it as sounding like a generative AI-focused game-making unit, while the announcement itself avoids mentioning AI. The report links to a Eurogamer article on Xbox Labs, genAI game ports and vibe code.
Xbox boss Asha Sharma has reportedly warned that the organisation will "not survive" if it relies on existing game franchises
Xbox boss Asha Sharma reportedly warned at a recent town hall that the company will not survive if it only relies on the past, and that it must keep creating enduring new IP with the courage to reach new audiences. She also said Xbox is backing its strongest franchises and wants them to become global billion-dollar franchises. Xbox cancelled several new IP projects last year and last month proposed closing Ninja Theory as part of a business reset that has seen an estimated 3,200 job losses and the divestment of five studios; yesterday it announced Xbox Labs, a team of game makers, engineers and scientists testing new projects, with no new staff recruited.
Bloomberg reported that Epic Games' Star Wars and Marvel shooter with Disney has been delayed over development progress and staffing shortages, and the project lead told the team production would move to an AI-first model with code no longer hand-written and art generated through a full AI workflow. Epic cut about 1,000 roles in March 2026, 20 percent of its staff, the same month the Star Wars project slipped. The game is led by an internal Epic team for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with no title or release plan announced.
Gundam Games 40th Anniversary Broadcast set for October 28 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/gundam-games-40th-anniversary-broadcast-set-for-october-28
Yu Huasong, head of Yoozoo Network's AI Innovation Institute Red Coast Lab, shared at the 2026 China Metaverse Conference that AI Agents have three major game applications: multimodal content generation, intelligent NPCs with memory and decision-making, and one-click game creation from an idea. He said AI now covers all six major scenarios and over 100 sub-scenarios within Yoozoo, and presented the content production system YOOLab and the development collaboration platform YOOSpark.
China's National Press and Publication Administration recently issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Publishing Industry, marking the first time online games are systematically included in a national five-year publishing plan. The plan calls for stronger supply of publication numbers for high-quality content, a selection program for outstanding online literature and games, and support for games expanding in international markets. From January to July 2026, 1,147 game publication numbers were issued, including 197 in July alone; in the first half of 2026, domestic game market revenue reached 188.45 billion yuan, up 12.17 percent year on year, while overseas revenue from self-developed games reached 12.372 billion US dollars, up 30.22 percent.
South Korean lawmaker 김재원 raised the case of SOL: Enchant topping the charts alongside roughly 300 million won in streamer spending during an Oct. 12 parliamentary audit, and is seeking to amend the Game Industry Promotion Act to bar publishers from improperly buying in-game items or paying third parties to do so in order to lift sales rankings. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Game Rating and Administration Committee acknowledged no investigation was conducted, and current rules do not require separate disclosure of promotion spending. Netmarble said streamer promotion is one marketing method and that its contracts pay for marketing services, not for top-ups.
Apple has officially launched an "Indie Game Week," bringing seven well-known PC and console indie titles including Sifu, No Man's Sky, Vampire Crawlers and 9 Kings to iOS. Previous 3A ports like Resident Evil 4 Remake performed poorly on iPhone, with 357,000 downloads and about $208,000 in revenue after six months. Apple's 2019 Apple Arcade subscription ecosystem has largely withered, with natively developed mobile indies now nearly absent.
Sensor Tower data shows Honor of Kings remained the top-grossing mobile game worldwide in September 2026, while ROBLOX entered the global revenue top five and also topped both the revenue growth and download charts. Global mobile game spending reached $6.13 billion in September, down 7% month-over-month, with the US leading at 28.7% of revenue, while downloads totaled 3.56 billion, down 5.2%, led by India at 576 million. Tencent's Honor of Kings Chess ranked 7th on the revenue growth chart and 2nd on the download growth chart.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reports that Epic Games told developers on a delayed Disney shooter to adopt an AI-first production model using tools such as Anthropic's Claude, with humans managing and guiding the work. An internal message reportedly said there would be no more hand-written code and that art would be generated with AI workflows, which reportedly left some Epic developers stunned. The game, described as a shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, was originally targeting a March release with no new date communicated; Disney invested $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games in 2024.
Diandian Network's actual controller Hu Jianping and Chen Fang have divorced and split their shares, with Hu transferring 7.2829 million shares (3% of total) to Chen, while the two signed a 36-month concerted action agreement and still jointly control 16.56% of the company, leaving actual control unchanged. On October 9, the company's extraordinary shareholders' meeting approved changing the legal representative from chairman Hu Jianping to general manager Chen Fang, after Hu resigned as general manager in April. The company reported 2025 revenue of 385 million yuan, down 30.08% year-on-year, with a net loss of 214 million yuan, and first-half 2026 revenue of 183 million yuan with losses widening to 58.7737 million yuan.
ARC Raiders' 2.0 update, Frost Trail, launched on October 8 alongside a free-to-play period, and Steam concurrent players rose from about 10,000 in September to 185,000. The update adds the Pendora Pass map, the Outpost home system, tier-5 weapon upgrade paths and a reworked skill tree, while Embark drops monthly updates for twice-yearly deep updates. The article notes the free period as one driver and points to the October 13-20 PvE test, with Tencent's China server still in testing.
Apple published a China-only report on October 8 titled "China App Store Ecosystem — 2025 Developer and User Value Study," authored by antitrust experts Ju Heng and Markus von Wartburg. The report says the China App Store ecosystem generates about 4 trillion yuan annually with over 95% exempt from commission, and names miHoYo and NetEase as examples of developers using web stores and DTC channels to bypass Apple Pay. It also states Chinese apps accounted for 98% of domestic App Store revenue in 2025, with 52% of Chinese developers' App Store revenue coming from overseas.
GameLook argues that Hololive Dreams, launched on July 23, has reached Japan's top mobile revenue tier, with about $23 million in mobile revenue in August, prompting parent company COVER to raise its half-year operating profit forecast from 1.93 billion yen to 3.5 billion yen. The piece says the game mixes rhythm play, character growth, park building and multiplayer minigames, letting in-game events and streamer content feed each other. COVER and Aiming announced Hololive Mahjong -Holojan- on October 9 with 37 members, mobile and PC support and a release planned within the year, while ANYCOLOR announced a physical card game for December 26.
Mick Gordon said at PAX Australia that his headline show at the UK's RADAR festival on August 1, 2027, is not meant to be a one-off, and he and his agency are discussing taking the Doom and Doom Eternal live show worldwide over the next two years. A few days after RADAR he will play the Brutal Assault Festival in the Czech Republic, a roughly 25,000-person metal festival held in a medieval castle. His soundtrack for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 arrives October 14 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version coming later.
Goal is 'to survive the AI revolution' says Epic Games CEO, as its Star Wars shooter goes 'AI first'
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the project, reported that Epic Games told the makers of an unannounced Disney shooter to adopt an AI-first production model, with art and code generated by AI, and that the project has been delayed indefinitely from a planned March release. The report says the game's director told developers there would be no more hand-written code and that the team was ordered to lean more on tools such as Anthropic's Claude. Epic did not confirm or deny the account, with its communications director saying the company is embracing AI-accelerated development led by Epic developers, while Disney has not commented.
An unannounced Star Wars and Marvel crossover shooter at Epic Games has been delayed indefinitely from its planned March 2027 release, with staff told to adopt an AI-first production model using tools such as Anthropic's Claude, according to Bloomberg. CEO Tim Sweeney said on X that Epic has a huge pivot underway to retool developers for maximum AI acceleration, and that the company's modest aim is to survive the AI revolution. He said current AI efficiency gains range from 20% in the most technical areas of Unreal Engine development to 5x in areas like web development. Epic Games laid off over 1,000 employees in March.
VRChat community volunteer Patroll said they would stop wiki maintenance, translation and community testing in protest at the influx of AI-generated worlds and images, urging other developers to label their work as AI-free. VRChat then banned deceptive AI thumbnails, endorsed AI for translation, code help and engine tools like Blender and Unity, but called user-facing uses such as generating worlds or game logic uncertain and asked users whether to label or ban them. The platform also promised better search to surface higher-quality content, with the consultation running for a week before findings and policies are shared.
Two former Nintendo PR managers, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, said on their YouTube show that Elon Musk's 2021 Saturday Night Live sketch playing Wario "did not go well" with Nintendo and was "not beloved." The sketch put Wario on trial for murdering Mario and included jokes about Mario using cocaine and Luigi sleeping with Princess Peach, and it aired when there was no new Wario game or product. The two brought it up after a recent SNL sketch in which The Legend of Zelda's Link and GTA 6's Jason Duvall debated.
Bloomberg reports that Epic Games is moving to an AI-first development model for its collaboration with Disney, with AI models writing all code and guiding all artwork while human developers manage the generated assets. The $1.5 billion partnership announced in early 2024 had planned a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter for March 2027, but the project is now delayed indefinitely. Epic said it is embracing AI-accelerated development, and CEO Tim Sweeney said the aim is to let teams build more and better content for everyone using Unreal.
Why this: Epic's Disney shooter shifting to AI-led development and being delayed indefinitely offers a look at how a major studio's pipeline and schedule are changing.
Epic Games has delayed an unannounced shooter crossover game featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, which was previously slated for March 2027 and now has no new release date. According to Bloomberg, the Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker is pushing the game's developers to use generative AI tools like Anthropic's Claude to complete development.
Sega revealed the year 2 DLC roadmap for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, starting November 3 and including crossovers with Godzilla, Evangelion, and a Midgar Pack, priced at $40 total. Players who bought the $100 Digital Deluxe Edition, which Sega had said included all future paid downloadable content, now have to pay extra, drawing complaints on Reddit and the PS5 subreddit. Individual packs usually cost $6, with the Godzilla pack arriving in early November, Evangelion in early 2027, and Final Fantasy VII timing still TBD.
Epic Games has delayed a Disney game and told developers to go AI first. The report comes from GamesIndustry, which links to https://www.gamesindustry.biz/epic-games-delays-disney-game-and-tells-developers-to-go-ai-first.