Gaming, in brief

King, the Swedish studio behind Candy Crush and owned by Microsoft, signed a collective agreement with two Swedish trade unions, Unionen and Engineers of Sweden, on Thursday 24 September. [2]

A strike was due to start the next day, 25 September. The unions withdrew the strike notice once the deal was signed. [1][2]

The two sides had been talking since May 2025. In August King told staff it would not sign, saying its own benefits were better for employees than a contract. [1][2]

Five unions backed the strike notice: Unionen and Engineers of Sweden, joined by Akademikerforbundet SSR, Naturvetarna and DIK. Mediators were called in before the deal was reached. [2]

The agreement gives staff the right to be told in good time before changes such as reorganisations, and more say over how they work. [1][2]

It takes effect on 1 April 2027. King says adaptations for its own operations are still to be agreed with the unions before then. [2]

King's chief operating officer, Ulrika Hojgard, said the company respects the Swedish model, and management told staff it signed to ease uncertainty. [2]

Engineers of Sweden represents about 100 of King's roughly 500 staff in Malmo and Stockholm. It calls the agreement a floor, not a ceiling: employers may offer more than it sets. [1]

Almost nine in ten employees in Sweden work under a collective agreement, the union's head of negotiations said. [1]

The deal came days after Microsoft cut 268 more jobs in its games division. [1][10]

Why it matters. Watch what the adapted agreement says when it is finalised before April 2027, and whether the new notice rule is used if Microsoft's next round of cuts reaches King.

Resident Evil Requiem, the newest game in the horror series from the Japanese publisher Capcom, has passed $500 million and 8.5 million copies, IGN reports. [3] Alinea Analytics, a firm that estimates sales from outside, puts 48.1% of copies on PS5, 43.4% on Steam and 8.6%, about 731,000, on Xbox consoles. [3] Microsoft stopped publishing console sales years ago; IGN puts its current machines at a little over 35 million, against 95.3 million PS5s. [3] The Verge had just reported GTA 6 pre-orders lean heavily to PS5; Xbox's Matthew Ball said they match Xbox's share of consoles. [3]

Why it matters. If people who own an Xbox are buying big games on PlayStation or PC instead, Xbox's share of game sales falls faster than its share of machines. Ball gave no figures for GTA 6, so Requiem is the only split with numbers on it this week.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, said on a podcast this week that the streamlining at Xbox under its chief executive Asha Sharma was "great to see". [4] Xbox cut 1,600 jobs over the summer and this week announced 268 more, along with studio closures. [4][10] Nadella said he felt very good about the game series and studios Microsoft owns, and that the company still has to invent a business model for games that can last. [4] GameSpot reports signs that more Xbox cuts are coming. [4]

Why it matters. Nadella sits above Sharma, so his words say the cuts are Microsoft's plan and not a mistake being corrected. For the people still at an Xbox studio, GameSpot's line about more to come is the part that matters.

The Jirachi ex Special Illustration Rare card, from the Pokemon 30th Anniversary set, rose from an average $81 on 17 September to about $118 by 23 September, Polygon reports. [6] New chase cards usually fall in price after a set launches. [6] The rise followed the death from cancer on 18 September of Avery, a 12-year-old Pokemon YouTuber, whose parents filmed him opening one last pack; it held that card. [6] The video spread, buyers say they bought the card for him, and eBay removed a listing using his name to ask $20,000. [6]

Why it matters. A card's price is set by how many people want it that week, and this week the reason was a boy's story, not the card's use in the game. At least one seller tried to turn his name into $20,000.

Polygon reports that a leaker called Centro has revived talk of Project Seed, a plan found in the 2025 leak of internal files from Game Freak, the studio that makes the main Pokemon games. [5] The leaked pitch described a shared, persistent world recreating Japan, with Pokemon appearing by place, weather, season and time of day, played with other people. [5] Polygon notes the documents are old, that such plans are often dropped, and that parts of the rumour rest on other unconfirmed leaks. The next main games, Winds and Waves, come first. [5]

Why it matters. Nothing new happened at Game Freak this week; a leaker's post put a year-old document back in the news. A leak shows what a company planned once, not what it is building now.

Takafumi Noda, who left the Japanese studio Vanillaware in March 2025, has founded Ignisphere Studios and announced Dawngazer, a role-playing game due in 2028 on PS5, Switch 2 and PC, Kotaku reports. [7] Vanillaware is known for hand-drawn games such as 13 Sentinels. [7] Good Smile Company will publish Dawngazer; Monochrome Corporation, an anime and games producer, is helping, and Kadokawa, a Japanese media group, is involved. [7] Noda told Automaton Media he wants the world to carry novels and merchandise as well as games, showing places and characters a game cannot. [7]

Why it matters. The pitch is a world designed from the start to be sold in several forms, with a publisher and a media group attached two years before the game exists. Noda's hand-drawn style, which Vanillaware was known for, goes with him.

Two games got trailers this week at Game Devs of Color Expo 2026, a showcase carried on IGN. Delivery Issues is an action-platformer due in 2027 on PC, the App Store, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation; a demo is out on PC and a Kickstarter campaign is planned. [8] Black Sailors: Bay of All Saints is a turn-based naval strategy game set in colonial Brazil, in which a crew of formerly enslaved people becomes a pirate crew in the Bay of All Saints. It is due in 2027 on PC, Mac and Xbox. [9]

Why it matters. A free demo first and a Kickstarter next is a path to money that needs no publisher, and Delivery Issues is taking it in that order. Both games are dated more than a year out.