Gaming, in brief

On 30 September, the EU's network of national consumer authorities named nine game companies over how their games sell in-game coins. [1][2]

The nine include Supercell, King, Mojang, Riot Games and Ubisoft, the makers of Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, Minecraft, Valorant and For Honor. [1]

Crytek, InnoGames, Plarium and PLR Worldwide Sales are on the list too. [1] Activision Blizzard faces a separate action over Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. [1]

The authorities want any item bought with coins to show its price in real money as well. [1][2]

They say a game must not push players to buy more coins than they need, or make them swap between several currencies. [2]

Players should be able to take back a purchase within two weeks, including coins they have not spent. [2]

The authorities published these principles in March 2025, and say many companies have made no real changes since. [2]

Their statement says players should not be "tricked into spending more money or time" than they want, and that some games urge children to buy. [2]

Michael McGrath, the EU's consumer commissioner, said roughly half of Europeans play video games, and national authorities will enforce the rules. [2]

The European Game Developer Federation, which speaks for studios, said the network was not ready to work further on the industry's own proposals. [1]

A lawyer who advises games companies argues the network is stretching the law. [1] He says no court has ruled that game coins count as money, and the rule it leans on was written for cryptocurrencies. [1]

The European Commission plans a draft Digital Fairness Act in November, which is expected to take up in-game currency again. [1]

Why it matters. Watch whether the nine companies add money prices to their shops in the EU, and what the draft Digital Fairness Act says when it arrives in November. [1][2]

Gears of War: E-Day, Xbox's big new shooter, opened on 1 October for players who paid for early access. [5] Staff at The Coalition, the Vancouver studio that made it, told Eurogamer they fear layoffs soon after launch. [3] Their bonus depends on review scores and is paid near the end of October, only to people still employed then. [3] Xbox is cutting 3,200 jobs, and it declined to comment on the report. [3] Reviews are split: The Verge calls the game confident, and The Guardian calls its campaign boring. [4][53]

Why it matters. Staff do not know whether anyone laid off before payday would still get the bonus. [3] Some of the people who finished the game may be gone before the bonus for it is paid.

Steam, Valve's PC game store, took about $1.7 billion in September, by the estimate of Alinea Analytics, a research firm. [6] That is 13% more than its previous best September, a year earlier. [6] Alinea puts Steam's takings so far this year at $16.5 billion, against $14.5 billion by the same point in 2025. [6] Its analyst Rhys Elliott says the year will pass $20 billion for the first time. [6] Steam's Autumn Sale opened on 1 October and runs to 8 October. [7]

Why it matters. Alinea says older games still selling, as well as new hits, drove the growth. [6] Valve does not publish these figures, so they are estimates made from outside the company.

Krafton, the publisher of the battle game PUBG, stopped making PUBG: Black Budget on 1 October. [8] It was an extraction shooter, a game where players fight over loot and must get out alive, and was first shown in November 2025. [8] Krafton said its direction would not give players something to enjoy over the long term. [9] It is the second PUBG spin-off cancelled this year, after PUBG: Blindspot in March. [8][10]

Why it matters. Krafton made the call after several closed tests with players. [9] Kotaku notes the game began testing just as Arc Raiders took off, and the genre is now crowded. [10]

Micron, a big maker of computer memory, reported quarterly sales of $54.2 billion, up 379% on a year earlier. [11] Its chief executive, Sanjay Mehrotra, said demand will outrun supply in 2027 and 2028 even more than in 2026. [11][12] AI is driving the demand, and new memory factories take a long time to bring up to speed. [12] Memory prices have reportedly risen as much as 500% in a year. [11]

Why it matters. Every console, graphics card and gaming PC needs memory, so the shortage reaches players as higher prices. [12] PC Gamer notes that two next-generation consoles and new graphics cards are expected in that window. [12]

Marc Merrill, a co-founder of Riot Games, said its fighting game 2XKO needed monthly players "in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions" to justify what Riot spent on it. [13] Riot stopped developing the game this year and refunded what players had spent. [13] On The Lemonade Stand podcast, Merrill said Street Fighter 6 came out about eight years after Riot started 2XKO, and took away the moment Riot had hoped for. [13]

Why it matters. IGN calls the figure unrealistic for a fighting game. [13] A game built to be updated for years has to keep a crowd big enough to pay its team every month.

Aleksander Grondal, executive producer of the hit shooter Arc Raiders, told Game Developer his team is "super tired". [14] Embark Studios, its Swedish maker, planned to add new content every month after launch. [14][15] In May it dropped that plan for two bigger updates a year. [15] Grondal said the work of keeping the game running, from bug fixes to exploits, kept pushing the team past what it could do. [14] He said he was not fully prepared for how hard it would be. [16]

Why it matters. Game Developer says Embark must balance the needs of over 16 million players with those of its staff. [14] The same team that makes new content must also fix whatever breaks.

Workers at Ubisoft Montreal started a petition on 30 September to keep hybrid work, which splits the week between home and office. [17] On its first day it passed 300 signatures, many collected in person. [18] Ubisoft ordered all staff back to the office five days a week in January, alongside layoffs, delays and studio closures. [18] Ubisoft says working in person helps its teams make better games. [17]

Why it matters. A second union backing the petition says the rule falls hardest on parents, disabled staff and people who moved home or country for the job. [17] The petition is the first public action of a new union campaign at the studio. [18]

Nerial, the studio behind the swipe-left-or-right strategy game Reigns in 2016 and Card Shark in 2022, is closing after 13 years. [19][20] Devolver Digital, the publisher that bought it in 2021, agreed the decision and keeps the rights to all its games. [20][21] Seven of the studio's nine people lose their jobs, while the two founders, Tamara and Francois Alliot, keep making games. [21] Francois Alliot told Kotaku that being owned meant every Nerial game had to suit Devolver. [21]

Why it matters. Rock Paper Shotgun notes Devolver told shareholders in August it wants to leave the London Stock Exchange, after writing down games that sold poorly. [20] Alliot also blames a hard market and AI tools that copy new ideas within a day. [21]

Sony launched Quick Spectral Super Resolution, or QSSR, for the standard PS5 on 1 October. [22] It uses AI to sharpen a low-resolution picture, which until now only the pricier PS5 Pro could do. [23] Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei got it first, in patches that day. [22] Digital Foundry, a group that tests game graphics, expects about 1440p on the PS5 against 4K on the Pro, because the PS5 has no dedicated AI chip. [22]

Why it matters. Owners of the cheaper console get a sharper picture without buying new hardware. [23] For now only two games support it, and each game's makers must add it themselves. [24][23]

Aion 2, an online role-playing game from the publisher NCSoft, came out in Korea and Taiwan about a year ago. [25] Its worldwide release is days away, and then it will be free to play. [25] Until then the only way in is a founders' pack, the cheapest costing 18.49 pounds with items included. [25] This week those packs earned more on Steam than EA Sports FC 27, Ace Combat 8 and Gears of War: E-Day, Eurogamer reports. [25]

Why it matters. A game that will be free still earns heavily before launch by charging its keenest players to start first. [25] It is ninth among Steam's most-played games while only paying players can get in. [25]

Gears of War: E-Day costs $70, and its $100 Premium Edition adds five days of early play from 1 October plus some cosmetic packs. [26] So buyers pay $30 for the early days and the skins together. [26] The game goes on general sale on 6 October, and it will also be on Game Pass, Microsoft's games subscription. [27] PC Gamer asked who pays the extra when the game is on Game Pass a week later. [26]

Why it matters. The price of the early days is never shown on its own. [26] A buyer has to subtract one edition from the other to find it.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, a fighter-jet game, gave pre-order buyers a 2006 game, Ace Combat Zero, as a bonus. [28] On Steam the bonus runs only inside Ace Combat 8, so buyers must install the new game first. [28] Players who paid $90 for three days of early play were unhappy. [28] The makers apologised for not saying so in advance, blamed licensing limits, and said they cannot promise a fix. [28]

Why it matters. The limit comes from licensing and platform rules that buyers could not see when they paid. [28] The game's Steam rating has since recovered from Mixed to Mostly Positive, Eurogamer reports. [28]

Martin Klima, co-founder of Warhorse Studios, which makes Kingdom Come: Deliverance, told PC Gamer he hopes GTA 6 lets other studios charge more. [29] GTA 6 comes out on consoles on 19 November. [29] Klima says games keep getting more expensive to make while the number of players has stopped growing. [29] He says raising the price of each game is the last option left, and everyone is scared to try it. [29]

Why it matters. If GTA 6 sells at a higher price, Klima expects other studios to follow. [29] That cost would land on every player buying new games after it.

Embark Studios now permanently bans any Arc Raiders account caught using a known cheat program, with no warning. [31] It says it was too cautious about banning first-time cheaters before, and should have acted differently. [31] It will also ban cheaters' computers, so they cannot simply open a new account. [31] The change comes before the game's big update on 8 October. [31][30]

Why it matters. Embark says its systems cannot ban a player the instant something looks wrong, or they would ban honest players by mistake. [31] That is why players still see cheaters playing before a ban lands. [31]

Programs that copy how a PS5 works are now running real PS5 games on PCs, Ars Technica reports. [32] One, SharpEmu, has 10 games playable, including Astro Bot, and its developer says six run at 60 frames a second. [32] Another, KytyPS5, lists 134 games as controllable, though many still have serious bugs. [32] Separately, a new exploit called Relapse lets owners unlock any PS5 still on software from before mid-September. [33]

Why it matters. Sony has said it will make fewer PC versions of its PS5 games. [32] These tools reach games that may never get an official PC release.

Takashi Iizuka, who produces the Sonic games at Sega, said fans ask for remakes, but Sega would rather spend its limited staff on new games. [34] He said remaking an old game now takes about as much work as making a new one. [34] Capcom, which has remade Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4, says it is already planning for when its remakes catch up with its newer games. [35] It has a remake of Resident Evil Code Veronica due in 2027. [35]

Why it matters. Iizuka says a remake gives players the same experience again, at close to the cost of a new game. [34] Capcom has made remakes a steady part of its plans for years ahead. [35]

CD Projekt Red patched the lighting in The Witcher 3 Remastered on 1 October, days after the free upgrade came out. [36] Players had complained the new version looked too bright. [37] A second PC fix of about 5GB followed hours later, and a fix for bloom, a glow effect, is on the way. [38] More than 450 player-made mods were released or updated for the remaster within two days. [39]

Why it matters. Eurogamer says the bloom setting seems to be a main cause, and PC players can turn it off while console players cannot. [36] The remaster prepares the game for a third expansion, Songs of the Past, due next year. [36]

Wizards of the Coast, which publishes the card game Magic: The Gathering, sold a special set called The Zeta Set in early September. [40] The sale broke down: thousands waited about an extra hour and a half, and only a few of them got one. [40] Its Secret Lair director, Matthew Hodgins, blamed an outside service failure. [40] On 9 December Wizards will take orders for 24 hours and fill every one, and earlier buyers may cancel by 9 October. [40]

Why it matters. Selling to everyone who orders removes the scarcity some early buyers paid for, which is why Wizards lets them cancel. [40]

Newzoo, a games research firm, published its August charts of what players spent. [41] EA Sports Madden NFL 27 entered at number two on consoles, and Big Walk, a co-op game from House House, at number three on PC. [41] Helldivers 2 rose 30 places on consoles after joining PlayStation Plus's game library. [41] Fortnite stayed the most-played game on consoles. [41]

Why it matters. Newzoo says a yearly sports series and a famous name sold best among new releases. [41] Subscriptions and film tie-ins brought players back to older games. [41]

Ember Lab has delayed Kena: Scars of Kosmora, the sequel to its 2021 adventure Kena: Bridge of Spirits, from this year to 2027. [42] The studio said it needs more time to polish a bigger game. [42] It is a linear adventure like the first, with what the studio calls a broader and deeper scope. [42]

Why it matters. Ember Lab says it wants the sequel to beat the first game's quality. [42]

Pearl Abyss, the studio behind Crimson Desert, moved its first paid add-on, Charting the Unknown, from 15 October to 29 October. [43] It said it needs the time for a more stable game. [43] The add-on costs $24.99 and adds sea travel, new islands and a way to rent out buildings for in-game cash. [43][44]

Why it matters. Pearl Abyss apologised for the longer wait. [43]

A leaked AMD driver names a chip called Gainsborough, which leakers link to a second Steam Deck. [45][46] The first Steam Deck's chip was called Aerith, after a Final Fantasy VII character whose surname is Gainsborough. [45] Shipping records suggest AMD is already sending test equipment for the chip. [45] Valve has said it wants a big jump in performance before it makes a new Deck. [46]

Why it matters. The Verge is doubtful, because a custom chip does not always end up in the device it was designed for. [45]

Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI, an online game first released in 2002 on the PlayStation 2, has a new free trial. [47] It no longer ends after 14 days, and players can now reach level 75 instead of 50. [47] Free players still cannot trade, use the auction house or hold more than 100,000 gil, the game's currency. [47] PC Gamer counts around 88,000 active players, from an auction house database. [48]

Why it matters. A trial with no end date lets a 24-year-old game pick up new players for free. [47] Square Enix already runs a trial like this for Final Fantasy XIV. [47]

IO Interactive released a free update called Extended Operations for its James Bond game 007 First Light on 1 October. [49] It adds New Game Plus, a much harder 00 difficulty, a photo mode and timed driving missions in an Aston Martin. [49][50] Enemies can now also throw Bond off ledges. [49] It is out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. [50]

Why it matters. The update adds features players had been asking for since launch. [49]

4A Games will update Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light for today's consoles and PCs, IGN reports. [51] On PS5 and Xbox Series X they will run at 4K and 60 frames a second, or 120 with upscaling, and PC gets Nvidia's DLSS. [51] The PC update comes on 22 October and the console one on 29 October. [51] The next game, Metro 2039, comes out on 4 February 2027. [51]

Why it matters. IGN says Metro 2033 has not run well on modern hardware. [51]