Gaming, in brief

Sucker Punch, a games studio owned by Sony's PlayStation business, has cut about 26 jobs, Aftermath, a games news site, reported on Monday. [1][6]

Polygon and Engadget counted 24 jobs instead, and the studio has not given its own number. [4][6]

An email from the studio's leaders blamed 'challenges in the market' and the needs of the team for its next project. [1][5]

The email said the decision was not made lightly, and promised more details about the studio's future next week. [1][2]

Sucker Punch made Ghost of Yotei, a samurai adventure that came out on 2 October 2025 and sold 3.3 million copies in its first month. [3][5]

Sony said it outsold the first Ghost game over the same weeks; that game, Ghost of Tsushima, has sold over 13 million copies. [1][6]

One estimate cited by Polygon puts Ghost of Yotei at 5.4 million copies and just over $400 million in sales. [4]

Kotaku, a games news site, says it was Sony's best-selling game of 2025, and Kotaku counts more than 5 million copies sold. [2]

A new edition with a story expansion, Echoes of Sekigahara, came out on 1 October, about four weeks before the cuts. [3][6]

The game is staying on the PS5 only, after a PC version was reportedly almost ready earlier this year. [5][6]

Most reports put the studio at about 200 staff, but Kotaku says 229, so the cut is roughly a tenth of the studio. [2][4][5]

The cuts came a week after EA closed BioWare and cut about 400 jobs, while Xbox works through 3,200 job cuts over a year. [6]

Why it matters. The next test is the studio's own update, promised for next week, and Sony's quarterly results a little over a week after the cuts, which may show how its games are selling. [1][6]

The Pokemon Company and TiMi Studio Group will switch off Pokemon UNITE on 23 March 2027. [12] It is a free team battle game that came out on the Switch in July 2021 and on phones that September. [12] From 27 October players can no longer buy Aeos gems, the game's money, or join its paid UNITE Club, though gems already bought still work. [12] A last event starts on 12 November, and a 'library' download will let players look at their records after the end. [12]

Why it matters. Players who spent money on the game can use it only until March. [12] The Aeos Crown 2027 tournament in Tokyo still goes ahead before the end, with qualifiers from 5 December. [12]

SAG-AFTRA, the US union for film, TV and voice actors, says about $1.5 million will soon go to about 700 performers from its streaming success bonus. [13][14] That is about 0.4% of its more than 160,000 members. [13] The bonus was won in the 2023 talks that followed a long strike, and pays only when a streamed show passes a very high viewing line. [13] The money is for shows released in 2024. [14]

Why it matters. Actors struck in 2023 partly to win a share when a streamed show is a hit, and so far about 700 of them will get one. [13] The union's president, Sean Astin, said no deal can make studios produce more. [14]

Cheyenne Jackson, an actor from shows like Glee and 30 Rock, began posting photos of fellow actors who need one more job to keep their health insurance. [15][16] SAG-AFTRA's plan needs about $28,000 a year in union work to qualify. [16] Jackson got hundreds of messages within a day. [15] He was $6,000 short himself last year until the actor Kathy Bates found him a small part on her show Matlock. [15][16]

Why it matters. Actors are paid job by job, so a year with fewer shows being made can cost them their family's health cover. [16] From 1 January the payments members make to stay covered rise. [16]

Microsoft is offering staff money to leave, and up to 60,000 people may qualify, about a quarter of the company. [9][11] Sources told The Verge that Xbox teams are among those taking part. [9] The offer is for staff in the US, UK, Canada and India, and those who qualify must decide by early December, Business Insider reports. [10] Xbox already plans to cut 3,200 jobs by the end of June 2027. [11]

Why it matters. Xbox staff who wait may face the layoffs that are still planned, so the offer pushes them to decide early. [9][10] Eurogamer says it is not yet clear whether Xbox's studios take part. [10]

Auroch Digital, a studio in Bristol, England, has started cutting about a quarter of its jobs. [7][8] It made Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun II and Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!, both released in the past year. [7] It blamed 'market conditions' and asked other studios to hire its staff. [7] Sumo Group bought Auroch for $8.3 million in 2021, and it lists 51 to 200 staff. [7]

Why it matters. Its own statement says the games did well with players, and the jobs are going anyway. [8] Work on Boltgun II and Warhammer Survivors will carry on, so players keep their games. [8]

Disney+ will show Channel 4, a free British TV channel, inside its app in the UK and Ireland from early 2027. [18][20] Several new Channel 4 shows a year, such as the drama Maya, will arrive on Disney+ the same day they air. [19] Deadline calls it one of the biggest deals of its kind in British TV. [17] Disney has signed about ten deals like it with TV channels around the world since one with ITV, a British channel, last year. [18]

Why it matters. Channel 4 reached 45 million adults in the first half of this year. [20] Disney says about 40% of Disney+ viewing comes from 16 to 34 year olds, a younger crowd than Channel 4's. [17] Disney gets local shows, which it wants more of to win new subscribers. [20]

Nickelodeon, a US children's TV channel, will make a tenth season of its cartoon The Loud House, but not with its Los Angeles crew, says the show's director Jessica Borutski. [21] She said the production work is moving to Canada and called it a move to make the show cheaper. [21] The showrunners stay. [21] Borutski described many of her colleagues out of work and leaving the trade. [21]

Why it matters. The show kept its leaders and replaced the rest of its crew between seasons, without being cancelled. [21] Animators in Los Angeles lose the work, and the show goes on.

Xbox's boss Asha Sharma said Call of Duty has made more than $40 billion over its life. [23] Activision, the Xbox studio group that makes it, has shared no sales figures for this year's game, Modern Warfare 4, after its first weekend. [23] It drew fewer players at once on Steam than last year's Black Ops 6, says Kotaku, a games news site. [23] Activision used to announce opening sales, such as $550 million for Black Ops 3. [23]

Why it matters. A lifetime total is good news for a series and says nothing about this year's game. [23] Modern Warfare 4 also skipped Game Pass on its first day this year. [23]

T-Mobile, a big US phone company, will offer Xbox Game Pass inside new phone plans called T-Mix from November. [24] Customers get one to three 'Picks' of services such as Netflix, Apple TV or Game Pass, with plans from $55 a month. [24][25] Game Pass Ultimate uses three Picks. [25] Microsoft says it is the first time Game Pass comes with a US phone plan. [24]

Why it matters. Xbox reaches people through a bill they already pay, as its subscription is reported to be heading for a big change. [24] Picks can be swapped every 90 days, so a customer can drop Game Pass for another service within months. [25]

Sanxingdui: Future Past, which its makers at Bona Film Group call China's first fully AI-made feature film, took about $181,000 through Monday after opening on 23 October. [22] Bona says it cost more than $1.5 million and took nearly 100 people over two years. [22] It had more than 10,000 screenings on its first day. [22] Two months ago a crude home-made cartoon, Niu Lai, took nearly $10 million. [22]

Why it matters. Cartoon Brew, an animation news site, says the flop may remind investors that interest in AI does not mean people will buy tickets. [22] It also says neither film proves a rule about how audiences feel about AI. [22]

Cyberpunk 2077 reached 187,215 players at once on Steam, its biggest peak since October 2023, GameSpot reports. [26] The rise follows the second season of Edgerunners, its Netflix anime series, and a big update with a new story mission. [26] The game is also on sale at 70% off. [26] After the first Edgerunners season in 2022, the peak was 136,724. [26]

Why it matters. A cartoon series is bringing players back to a six-year-old game, which keeps it earning for CD Projekt, its maker. [26] Cyberpunk 2 is in the works. [26]

A new report by IMDb, the film and TV website Amazon owns, says interest in Indian series on its site grew about 17 times in ten years. [31] But new Indian series and seasons fell from 202 in 2023 to 169 in 2024 and 145 in 2025. [31] Mirzapur, a crime show, was in the top ten every year since it started. [31] Thirteen of the 64 top shows started on YouTube. [31]

Why it matters. IMDb reads the fall as buyers getting pickier as the business merges into fewer companies. [31] YouTube has become a way in, since 11 of those 13 were later bought by paid services. [31]

Disney renewed Coven Academy, a series about teenage witches at a magic school. [30] Its first season, 21 short chapters, was watched for 20.3 million hours in three weeks on Disney+ and Hulu, Disney says. [30] The first chapter also drew more than 30 million views on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. [30] Nielsen, which measures viewing, says it was the most-watched streaming series among 12 to 17 year olds in its first weekend. [30]

Why it matters. Disney put the first chapter on free social apps as well as its own services, and the renewal followed 20.3 million hours watched. [30] Nielsen says half of its 12 to 17 year old viewers watched with an adult. [30]

Valve, which runs Steam, named the 50 most-played demos from its Steam Next Fest, a week of free demos with more than 8,000 games. [27] Fifteen were light-hearted group games, and seven were 'incremental' games where numbers keep growing. [27] Only four of the 50 said they used AI. [27] One of those, Teach My Little Sister How To Drive, uses an AI character that costs its maker over $1,000 a day. [27]

Why it matters. Small studios can see which demos players actually tried, before any of these games go on sale. [27] PC Gamer reads the list as players mostly passing over games that use AI openly. [27]

People with hacked PS5 consoles can now run PC games bought on Steam, such as Portal, through a free tool called Playden. [28] It builds a small Windows-like setup inside the console for each game. [28] Its makers call it an early test version. [28] Kotaku, a games news site, says AI coding tools have sped up this kind of PS5 hacking. [29]

Why it matters. One hacker reported a deep PS5 flaw to Sony through its reward scheme and was paid $50,000, Kotaku says. [29] Kotaku says that flaw could have opened the console to pirated games. [29]

Tetsuya Chiba, the manga artist who drew Ashita no Joe, has died at 87, Anime News Network reports. [32] Ashita no Joe, a boxing story, ran from 1968 to 1973 and became two TV anime series and two films. [32] It was remade in 2018 as Megalobox, a new anime that credits it as its source. [32] Chiba started drawing manga professionally at 17, in 1956. [32]

Why it matters. A comic first drawn in 1968 was still being turned into new anime 50 years later. [32] Chiba had paused his last manga in September because of poor health. [32]

Eric Bauza, who voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes characters, died on Sunday at 46. [33][34] Records say he died of heart disease caused by high blood pressure. [33] He voiced the Toad General in the Super Mario films and roles in games such as Batman: Arkham City. [33][34] He had won three Emmy awards for children's shows. [33]

Why it matters. Two Warner Bros. bosses said he spent 15 years at Warner Bros. Animation as the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, following Mel Blanc, the original voice. [35] He was preparing to play Daffy Duck in a Looney Tunes musical. [33]

Cygnus Cross, the game's maker, delayed its farming and dungeon game Emberville from 27 October to 7 January, one day before it was due. [36][37] Players had tried a demo during Steam's demo week, and the team wants to rework parts such as bow combat. [36] It had confirmed the October date only a week earlier. [37] The game launches in early access, an unfinished version sold while work goes on. [37]

Why it matters. A free demo now feeds changes into a game before it sells, even when that costs a launch date. [36] Players who had planned for the release wait ten more weeks.

Inin Games, a publisher, has delayed Shenmue 3: Enhanced Edition from late 2026 to early 2027 to 'get everything right'. [38] Shenmue 3 first came out in 2019. [38] The new edition promises sharper graphics and comes to PC, PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox. [38] It was announced in August 2025. [38]

Why it matters. Eurogamer calls the new edition a second chance for a game that divided players in 2019. [38]

Requests for time off on 19 November, the day GTA 6 comes out, are 9% to 17% higher than usual, says BambooHR, which makes software for staff records. [39] GTA 6 is Rockstar's next Grand Theft Auto game, for PS5 and Xbox. [39] Rockstar spent $975,000 on a pink sign on the Miami Heat's arena to promote it. [39] Some economists estimate a $1 billion loss of work in the US. [39]

Why it matters. The release is big enough to show up in companies' staff records. [39] The $1 billion figure is an estimate made before the game is out. [39]

A US bankruptcy court approved a deal letting 13 publishers, including Dark Horse and Oni Press, take back comics held in a warehouse in Mississippi for over a year. [40] The warehouse belonged to Diamond Comic Distributors, the bankrupt company that supplied comics to shops. [40] The deal pays the warehouse owner, Sparkle Pop, its rent claims, and the stock could move within 10 days. [40] Another group of publishers still waits for a hearing in early November. [40]

Why it matters. Some of these comics could reach shops for the holidays. [40] The publishers still lose money, because some stock aged and their cash was tied up for almost two years. [40]

Side, a company that does art, testing and other work for game makers, bought Roboto Entertainment, an art studio in Chengdu, China, and opened a new office there. [41] Roboto's founder, Andrea Cordella, becomes Side's global head of art. [41] Side's boss said half the games at this year's Gamescom opening show were made in China. [41] Niko Partners, a research firm, expects China's games market to grow 4% to $53.9 billion this year. [41]

Why it matters. China's games market passed $50 billion for the first time last year, Niko Partners says. [41] Side also opened an office in Taipei this year with 79 jobs. [41]

Pokemon Night Out, an official dance-music night at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, drew complaints from fans who paid $300 for standing tickets. [42] They say the DJ Marshmello played almost no Pokemon music, while Alison Wonderland played two Pokemon songs. [42] A London show on 10 November sells floor tickets for 38.35 pounds. [42]

Why it matters. Fans say the night was sold as an official Pokemon event, and Kotaku notes the company could have licensed its music for it. [42]

Toei Animation, a big Japanese anime studio, will make Dual Shadow, a new Precure TV anime about villain characters, next year. [43] Unlike most spinoffs it will have its own story and characters. [43] The current series, Star Detective Precure!, is the 23rd in the franchise. [43] Its film sold 358,000 tickets and took 446 million yen in its first three days in Japan. [43]

Why it matters. Toei made two 20th-anniversary Precure sequels in 2023 and 2025, one with its heroines grown up, and now adds a show about its villains. [43]

Story Kitchen, a Los Angeles company that turns games into films, will make a film of Madison, a horror game by Bloodious Games. [44] In the game, a boy's camera holds a demon that pushes him to finish a killer's ritual. [44] There is no director or cast yet, and no company to show it. [44] Story Kitchen also works on Tomb Raider and Life Is Strange shows. [44]

Why it matters. Story Kitchen's co-founder produced the Sonic the Hedgehog films, and it aims to put Madison in cinemas. [44]

Mugen Gaming raised more than $2.7 million in five days on BackerKit, a crowdfunding site, for the first English edition of Sword World RPG. [45] It is a Japanese tabletop role-playing game, played with dice and paper, first published in 1989. [45] It has sold more than 10 million copies. [45]

Why it matters. It is the first time the game has come out in English, 37 years after its first Japanese edition. [45]