Hello friends,

Today is September 1st 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 The Witcher 4 Release Window Announced

• 🎮 2XKO Is Done

• 🎮 Rockstar Addresses GTA 6 Leaks

• 🎮 Multiple Reboots In Progress at Konami

• 🎮 More Details about Metro 2039

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 The Witcher 4 Release Window Announced

Gamescom, as usual, brings a lot of exciting announcements, and the first one is for one of the most anticipated games from CD Projekt RED.

According to IGN, The Witcher 4 is now set to be released sometime in 2028! This game is meant to kick-start an entirely new trilogy, now focused on Ciri as the series' new protagonist. Which means, at least based on some earlier statements from the company, we should expect The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6 to be released sometime between 2028 and 2034. Specifically, because CDPR switched to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4, they loved it and are happy with what they've achieved so far, and the headway they've made with it should shorten the time it takes to make a new game. Of course, the current 2028 window is still not set in stone, and a lot can happen between now and then. But at least now we have a target to look forward to.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t share anything else during Gamescom when it comes to The Witcher 4, but we did see some new stuff about the upcoming DLC for The Witcher 3 that is supposed to set the stage for the next game. First of all, the game is getting a surprise remastered edition that will be available for everyone who already has a copy, and this update will go live on September 29th. Also, CDPR shared a new trailer for the upcoming DLC. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t reveal much, but it does show new enemy types, a new villain, and either a new weapon type or an accessory: a chain that lets you pull an enemy to you.

With that in mind, I have to say, a 6-year plan still sounds pretty ambitious to me. I mean, from what we know so far, The Witcher 4 was in pre-production for 3 years, from roughly 2021 to 2024. Then it went straight to production, and with a 2028 release window, it means that it will take them around 7 years to make it. Sure, a lot of things they are doing for the 4th, they will be able to reuse in the next game, but each sequel still has to show enough innovation and differentiation to justify a purchase from the players. And for games as complex as The Witcher series, reusing technology, systems, and tools might not be enough. Even if we talk about sheer resources, right now, CDPR has the majority of their manpower focused on The Witcher 4. To make The Witcher 5 roughly 3 years later, they wouldn’t have any time to waste. This means no DLCs for The Witcher 4, no reassignment to other projects, no additional investment in tools and support infrastructure, nothing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not impossible, but it basically means putting all other plans on hold, and I’m not sure they want to do that.

So, while I’m excited about the 2028 release window, I’m highly sceptical that CDPR will be able to actually maintain this 6-year plan. At least not without jeopardizing their other franchises, like Cyberpunk 2077, for example.

Are you excited about The Witcher 4 finally settling at least on a year?

🎮 2XKO Is Done

Well, it looks like Riot’s experiment with fighting games is officially done.

According to the official announcement, Riot Games plans to end active development of 2XKO, a new fighting game that was released earlier this year. And the reasons are pretty simple. The company is saying that while a lot of people jumped into the game to give it a go, the majority of players are not sticking around for more than that. So, with that, it doesn’t make sense for Riot to keep developing it. But they are saying that they will keep the servers alive for the time being; they are going to unlock all champions, and they are planning to refund all purchases made prior to August 20, while restricting any further purchases. And that’s after this game already suffered a major team reduction only a month or so after 2XKO was launched. So, while the game is technically not being shut down immediately, for all intents and purposes it’s now dead.

Riot also elaborated a little bit on why they decided to make this game in the first place. Their initial approach was to tackle some of the issues that they knew the other fighting games struggled with by building more reliable netcode, making the ranked grind less lonely with the tag mechanics, committing to more frequent game updates, and other features. And by making the game free, they wanted to make the genre more accessible and discoverable to new players. According to them, some of it indeed happened, but not nearly enough to keep the development alive.

And honestly, I think Riot Games shot themselves in the foot by trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. First of all, the defining feature of this game was this duo tag-team play. Sure, on paper this feature sounds interesting; you team up with a friend and try to outplay your opponents, but it goes against the entire fighting market, as your success now relies not only on your skill, but on the skill of either your friends or random teammates. And I’m not sure if you've played a lot of competitive team-based games, but it can get annoying very fast. Also, it introduces a huge dependency on them being online to play with you. All these social nuances sound great in a perfect world where all your friends are always available to play and like the same games, but in reality it’s just another dependency that adds friction, unlike other fighting games where everything is up to you and only you.

Second of all, making this game free-to-play is great, and it increases your player count tremendously, as everybody can just jump in and give it a go. But this created a bigger problem for Riot to solve, as now they have to convert all those players to paying customers, and that’s a much harder job than getting butts in seats, in my opinion. And to top it all off, I think Riot put too much into the premise that it would be fun to have League of Legends characters fight each other. I mean, if they were trying to convert players who are already playing their MOBA, that makes no sense to them. They are already playing the game that they want to play. And players who like fighting games don’t really care about League; all they want is a good fighting game.

And I’m not even scratching the surface here. All in all, I think that the team did a great job with this game, but they identified all the wrong problems with fighting games, tried to solve them with all the knowledge they have from running League of Legends, and now discovered that the fact that a car has 4 wheels is not something that has to be fixed. Who could’ve guessed?

🎮 Rockstar Addresses GTA 6 Leaks

It’s been quite a few weeks for GTA 6 developers, and it all started when a bunch of clips started showing up online, showcasing the gameplay of the most anticipated game of the year.

Here’s a small recap. A few weeks ago, a person with the nickname CyberLeek started posting gameplay footage that varied, from a protagonist playing basketball with some HUD elements to a driving sequence, roadside confrontations, melee combat, the map of the game, and a lot of other things that showcased a lot of in-game mechanics ahead of a gameplay reveal scheduled for last week. On the same day, CyberLeek posted a manifesto, threatening Rockstar with an entire campaign of leaked footage as retaliation against practices including digital preorders, lack of long-term preservation of games, and digitalization as a whole. Of course, Take-Two and Rockstar started their own campaign, trying to find the real person behind it all with takedown notices and even subpoenas to Discord, Microsoft, and other platforms in an effort to unmask the leaker and bring them to justice, so to speak. And this whole thing even gained some support from other players around the world. But organizations and campaigns, such as Stop Killing Games, for example, denounced these actions, arguing that illegal leaks undermine legitimate preservation advocacy.

Fast forward to today, and right before showing the extended gameplay preview, Rockstar decided to acknowledge this situation and share an official response. They are saying that having videos of GTA 6 gameplay leak in this way has been heartbreaking for their team, and they are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has, meaning getting the game finished and getting ready to share the gameplay. And while it’s unfortunate that now the experience may be impacted by spoilers, they still hope that everyone will enjoy the game for themselves when it goes live on November 19.

And honestly, I don’t think that this is such a big deal. First of all, I’m not supporting leaking confidential information in any capacity, and I can only imagine the feeling inside the team that has been doing all the work. But with a game of that scale, this was bound to happen. Too many people involved, and people are always unpredictable, and NDAs these days are not worth the paper they are printed on, at least to a certain extent. That said, I think Rockstar definitely needs to take another look at their internal security. Secondly, so what? I mean, so what if people saw the gameplay a few weeks before they were supposed to? It’s not like this person leaked the whole build. We are talking about probably the most massive launch in history here. A franchise with more than 470 million units sold-in is not dependent on a conventional awareness campaign. GTA V alone has exceeded 230 million units while continuing to produce recurrent consumer spending more than a decade after release. So, it’s not going to hurt their demand in any meaningful way. Of course it sucks when things like that happen, and it’s great that they decided to address the elephant in the room, but c’mon guys.

For any other game, sure, maybe there would’ve been some impact, and people would’ve been discouraged from preordering it, but if we are talking about GTA 6… I don’t think this whole campaign is going to make even a dent in their marketing machine or the digitalization as a whole. What’s more likely is that CyberLeek will be found and prosecuted, as I’m sure Take-Two will spare no expense to find them.

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🎮 Multiple Reboots In Progress at Konami

Konami has been pretty busy lately, and apparently it will be busy for a while, as the Japanese publisher is working on rebooting a lot of their legacy franchises.

We have already seen a lot of it with the Metal Gear series and a lot of Silent Hill games, and now, according to Konami’s President, they have plans for Castlevania next. He is saying that they have been making games for 50 years now, and as long as there are customers for a given game, they will release it across multiple devices. Also, the company has already established a structure that allows them to reboot and release multiple IPs simultaneously with equal energy. So, if you are a fan of Konami and their games, all of this is very good news. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a specific Castlevania game, it’s still unclear which one they are working on at the moment.

We already know that Belmont’s Curse is being released later this year, and with more projects on the way, does it mean that we are now getting back to the era where we have a new Castlevania game almost every year? I mean, we have already heard from a Silent Hill Producer that multiple projects are in development, so if Konami wants to revive Castlevania as well, they will probably do the same thing here.

And this is a good strategy, but honestly, it would be great if companies could come up with something new every now and then instead of keeping rebooting and rereleasing old games to play on their players’ nostalgia. At least that’s what I think.

How about you?

🎮 More Details about Metro 2039

One other game that made an appearance during Gamescom was Metro 2039, and 4A Games revealed a lot of new information.

Apparently, Insider Gaming had the pleasure of enjoying a 10-hour hands-on preview of the game during Gamescom, and they had quite a few things to share. First of all, the new protagonist of the game, The Stranger, is now a fully voiced character for the first time in the series’ history. And while the last game took us into the wild, this game brings us back to the ruins of Moscow, and the outlet says the atmosphere there is absolutely unmatched. Every playable area feels densely detailed, dark, and absolutely breathtaking. And so far it looks like it’s the most realistic Metro game yet. The AI of enemies that includes various humans and mutants is amazing. The combat is punchy and satisfying. And overall it feels like this game took everything that made Metro games great and cranked it up to 11.

Aside from all that, the outlet says that there will be new ways to customize your weapons, new and old mutants to fight, and new game mechanics that include new ways to solve puzzles and uncover secrets, allowing you to breach doors and walls, crack padlocks, and unlock boxes containing valuable items, so you’re rewarded for poking through every corner of the game. The game also fully utilizes the potential of 4A Games' proprietary engine, including day-night cycles, weather-based sound and visual cues, particle physics for a flickering fire, and more. The studio put an incredible amount of effort into every detail of your surroundings.

So, if at least some of this is true, it looks like we have a sleeper Game of the Year on our hands. Of course, we’ll have to wait till February 2027 to find out for ourselves, but so far I haven’t heard a single bad thing about this game, and that’s a rare sight. And as a fan of the studio and franchise, I’m really looking forward to this game!

🫡 True Tribute!

BossKey // CG BOSS Games

The End of Physical Media: PlayStation Goes All-Digital by 2028

TL;DR: Sony just announced it will end physical disc production for new PlayStation games in January 2028. It's not surprising—but it is the end of an era worth mourning…

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2 months ago · 4 likes · Weiqing Teh // CG BOSS

Another great write up! Indeed, the death of physical media is a sad phenomenon. I still remember the first time I bought a laptop and discovered that there was no CD-ROM. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Of course, these days it’s pretty typical, and looking back on this, it could’ve been a sign that the era of physical products was starting to come to an end. I still think that all these companies should’ve thought about ownership, rights, and all that stuff before introducing a shutdown like this. If they said that from now on, you’ll get to own your digital products in perpetuity, without the risk of publishers pulling the plug, I think the backlash would not have been this big. But oh well, unfortunately, we can’t really influence these corporations anymore (if we ever truly could)…

💎 Hidden Gem

Today I wanted to talk about a game that I didn’t find, but one that looks absolutely amazing: Tukoni: Forest Keepers

Funny story about how I found it. I didn’t 😅, my partner did. And if you remember, I already mentioned a couple of times that she is not a big gamer. I mean, she plays sometimes on my Xbox Ally; we play some board games, and she plays some mobile games, but she is not a gamer in the conventional sense.

But she is a big art person, and this game caught our eye as it has a very unique art style similar to children’s books. It’s very cute and cozy, and something that you’ll enjoy if you like this art style and puzzles. Also, it’s very cheap! We are already giving this one a shot, and it looks amazing for the money they are asking!

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

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Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is August 25th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 New Horizon Game Is Rebooted

• 🎮 Don’t Wait For The Next Mainline Horizon Game

• 🎮 Most People Are Buying GTA 6 for 100$

• 🎮 2K Opens Up A New Studio

• 🎮 Why Epic Needs Disney

• 🎮 FromSoftware Plans For More Single-Player Games

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 New Horizon Game Is Rebooted

Well, it looks like Sony can listen, at least when their community revolts, as it looks like their newest live-service title in the Horizon series is now being rebooted.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, after all the backlash Guerrilla Games experienced when they announced Horizon Hunters Gathering, combined with negative feedback received during closed beta tests, the studio decided to rethink the entire project. Anonymous sources inside the company shared that the team has been working on a reboot since June and that the new plan is to remove live-service components entirely to make a more traditional co-op multiplayer game that has a dedicated story mode and a much smaller scope. And while this is a positive development, it looks like it gets worse from here, as the report also says that the team is now on the clock. Basically, they have until December to impress executives with their new milestone or else. And to add insult to injury, at least some members of the Hunters Gathering dev team were reassigned to different projects. So, while the game is not cancelled just yet, it sounds like it might be later this year, unless the dev team finds a way to make it truly unique and interesting without adding a battle pass and a bunch of skins.

And I’m kind of torn about this news. On one hand, I’m happy that both Sony and Guerrilla Games actually listened to reason. Horizon is not a successful IP because of robots, tribes, or hunting. It sold millions of copies because of all the single-player elements and how strong they were. Great protagonist, interesting story, how the characters evolve, and how you uncover what actually happened with the world piece by piece. It’s impossible to put all this into a battle pass. Making a project smaller and more focused on the story is definitely something that plays to Guerrilla’s strength. I was genuinely surprised that they opted for live-service instead when this game was announced. Also, the characters and the art style were definitely a miss, but I personally don’t hold that against them.

On the other hand, this kind of pressure is definitely unfair. Somebody or a group of somebodys at Sony looked at this game when it was a pitch, greenlit it, poured millions of dollars into it without thinking about their fan base and the market in general, and now they're basically saying that the team fucked up and now have 6 months to change their mind of the project is cancelled and most likely most of them are out of the job. What happened when those same executives saw the footage before the rest of the world? Why them saying it’s ok to reveal this game is normal, but now the team has to work that much harder because some suits failed at their job of looking at the bigger picture? I honestly thought that after the Concord disaster, they learned their lesson, but apparently this live-service rush can’t be satisfied even after multiple multimillion-dollar investments turn to dust.

And yeah, yeah, I know, I’m just yelling at clouds at this point. But the amount of IP mismanagement at Sony is just mind-blowing lately. And all I can do is hope that people who decided to go ahead with this whole thing will eventually be punished and this team finds a way to turn this project around before the time runs out.

🎮 Don’t Wait For The Next Mainline Horizon Game

While we are on the subject of Horizon and IP mismanagement, it looks like Sony is busy with everything but the new mainline game.

In the same report where Bloomberg shared the unfortunate fate of Horizon Hunters Gathering, the outlet also shared more information about the next mainline Horizon game. Unfortunately, the news is not good. Apparently, most of the resources at Guerrilla Games are currently tied to two games, Hunters Gathering and, to a smaller degree, Steel Frontiers, a separate MMORPG for PC and mobile being developed by NCSoft in collaboration with Guerrilla. But there is a silver lining. Apparently, a very small team had begun working on the next mainline game, but with the current pace, it is still years away from even being announced.

Which is a shame, really, as it looks like the company is doing anything but what they should be doing. Every mainline Horizon game demonstrated a huge demand, and they have sales data to prove it, as the Horizon series has exceeded 32.7 million unit sales. And it was back in 2023, mind you. So why Sony decided to deviate from their already stable path is beyond me. I mean, I get that they want to expand the franchise, but in my humble opinion, they need to get their priorities straight. I think they made a mistake when they assigned so many people to Hunters Gathering. If I were them, I would do it the other way around. Assign a small team to do a concept of a live-service game, test it, verify that the concept works, and only then start assigning more and more people to it. In the meantime, the majority of their dev team should be working on the next mainline game to cover the costs.

I don’t know; maybe I’m not that experienced with game development, and I don’t see a bigger logic in this, but so far it sounds like they are just delaying their most validated product to fund less-proven extensions of the IP. But what do I know, right?

🎮 Most People Are Buying GTA 6 for 100$

While the world is eagerly waiting for November 19, it looks like all the concerns around GTA 6's price were unwarranted, as most players are buying the Ultimate Edition despite a 100$ price tag.

At least that’s what people at Sensor Tower are saying. According to them (via gameindustry.biz), at least 89% of preorders are for the $100 Ultimate Edition rather than the $80 Standard Edition. And that percentage is roughly the same across both platforms, Xbox and PlayStation. Of course, those are not exactly official numbers, but considering what the CEO of Take-Two Interactive mentioned some time ago during an interview with CNBC, these numbers make sense. As Strauss Zelnick essentially said, preorders are skewing more toward the premium edition. With that said, analysts at Sensor Tower are expecting these numbers to change closer to release. They are saying that the closer a game approaches a release date, the more people are deciding to preorder the game. And they are estimating that this split between Ultimate and Standard will be almost even near launch. Also, it’s worth noting that it was explicitly said that GTA VI is difficult to benchmark against conventional launches, and even that is probably an understatement.

But I have to say, I am a little bit surprised and impressed. Even with having a cheaper Standard Edition, Rockstar and Take-Two managed to move its core audience to a 100$ launch price. And that means that they can kill two birds with one stone. Rockstar can publicly maintain an $80 entry point while extracting almost $100 in gross value from the average customer inside this early preorder pool.

But the big question is: where does it leave the rest of game development? So many studios are watching Rockstar right now and studying the upcoming launch as a test case. So, if GTA 6 can use edition architecture to raise the price for a game and skew the audience toward buying the more expensive version, how long until others will start doing the same thing? Of course, right now it’s just a hypothetical, as the game has to launch first and prove that a 100$ is a sustainable mass-market price point.

But if those numbers are correct and the launch goes smoothly, I think we can expect more and more games, especially the AAA ones, to follow in the same footsteps.

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🎮 2K Opens Up A New Studio

While we are on the subject of Take-Two, one of their subsidiaries decided to open up a new studio all of a sudden, and their focus is, apparently, sports games.

2K formally revealed Small Axe Studios recently as a new AAA development studio in Vancouver, evolved from the internal 2K Sports Lab, which had been operating since 2023. They want this new studio to redefine the future of sports video games, leverage what their NBA, WWE, and PGA games have already been doing, and push the envelope even further. For this, they appointed the leadership team that previously worked on FIFA, Madden, and College Football projects at EA. So, while they are not saying it out loud, it looks like 2K is getting ready to take on EA when it comes to football games.

And it makes sense. There have been some rumours about potential negotiations between FIFA and Take-Two. Ever since FIFA discontinued its partnership with EA, I’m sure they’ve been looking for a way to get back into video games. And 2K might be a good candidate for that. But they would have to be very careful, as the split with EA was caused because the two companies couldn’t agree on the licensing fees. So, my guess is that FIFA wouldn’t want another partner without a bigger slice of the pie.

So, 2K will have to decide what they want more: FIFA brand recognition or to try to make it on their own. And honestly, I don’t know what I would’ve chosen if I were them, but regardless, at least they are trying to do something new, right?

🎮 Why Epic Needs Disney

It looks like the media giant found a perfect medium for their content, and it’s none other than the creators of Fortnite.

Disney recently came out again to say how important video games are to its ecosystem, in both a video and a blog post. Disney’s EVP of Global Games talked a lot about the stories that video games help bring to life, and how games increasingly become the first place audiences discover Disney’s characters and worlds, and how games developed with their IPs generated $4 billion in its latest fiscal year. And Epic was a big part of that speech. Disney says their partnership with the creators of Fortnite is very important to them and reiterates that they want to create something extraordinary with them after investing $1.5 billion in Epic. And all that sounds great. It’s an absolutely empty and vague statement, but it all sounds great.

What I keep wondering about is who benefits from this partnership more? And the answer is probably Epic. I mean, even if we don’t take into account all the companies that Disney owns and how many avenues of different businesses they have, even in video games, they have their fingers in a lot of pies. Without Fortnite and all the collabs they have, they still have a ton of different games, such as Marvel Rivals, upcoming Star Wars Zero Company, Battlefront games, Spider-Man games, Wolverine, and the list can go on and on. All these games benefit Disney.

Epic Games, in the meantime, has already said multiple times that they are looking for ways to bring people back to Fortnite. Which means that the game is slowly shrinking and they are struggling. And if they want to keep people in, they need to reel them in with all those crossovers, events, famous characters, especially around big theatrical releases.

But I’m not sure that it’s going to work. I mean, the whole thing was very profitable for years, but without meaningfully evolving the gameplay, eventually this strategy will start bringing in fewer and fewer results. And it’s already starting. So, I think aside from securing a big paycheck from Disney, Epic also needs to think long and hard about evolving their game or platform, or whatever they want to call it. Maybe with this new extraction shooter they’ve got cooking?

🎮 FromSoftware Plans For More Single-Player Games

With the release of Elden Ring: Nightreign and The Duskbloods for Switch 2, some people are wondering if multiplayer projects are the future of FromSoftware and apparently, it’s not.

According to an interview between IGN and FromSoftware’s President, the fact that the company had 2 multiplayer projects back-to-back is merely a coincidence. According to him, the teams in charge of these games had great ideas that didn’t really work in terms of a single-player project, but they were so great that the company wanted to pursue them regardless. There weren’t really any big plans or anything like that. And with that, he wants to reassure their players that FromSoftware still has a heavy focus on single-player content and they plan to make more of those games in the future.

And it looks like this experimental approach is working out for FromSoftware a lot more than for Guerrilla Games, for example. Both companies decided to pursue multiplayer ideas after highly successful AAA single-player titles, but one was already dead when the first trailer launched, and the other sold 2 million copies in a day and surpassed 5 million units sold, and it was a year ago. And it’s not like Nightreign was perfect. The game was heavily criticized when it was released, with a lot of players complaining about the difficulty, the lack of a two-player mode, and a lot of other things. But what’s different is that instead of trying to appeal to a vague mass market audience, FromSoftware stayed true to their core styles, gameplay, and the essence of their games in general.

So, when you look at it like that, sure, companies can experiment however they want. Of course, I’m still waiting for Elden Ring 2 or something similar. But FromSoftware is a great example and testament that fans will follow them whenever they lead, just as long as they keep making games that are at least close to why people fell in love with them in the first place. Something that other companies should definitely learn before starting their portfolio expansions…

🫡 True Tribute!

Nintendo is Great

I Don't Know if I Like JRPGs Anymore (A Partial Bravely Default HD Review)

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23 days ago · 24 likes · 15 comments · Dylan Cornelius

First of all, kudos to for starting to review Switch 2 games. Not that the rest of the lineup wasn’t entertaining, but it’s always interesting to see more variety 😁. And the second kudos is for getting into JRPGs 😅. What I discovered while playing a few of them is that they don’t always land the same. I don’t know why, but somehow the only one that stuck with me was Persona 5, probably the most mass-market JRPG out there 😅. Somehow, when I tried it, I got this feeling of exploration, and it quickly became the only game I actually achieved platinum on both PlayStation and Steam, so to speak. But every time I try something else, it just doesn’t hit the same for me. So, I totally get the “it’s not you, it’s me” argument. Keep exploring though! I’m sure that you’ll find something great eventually!

😄 Personal Update

Just in case you needed a reminder, you are never too busy for your better half, and you should always make some space to spend more time together

And that’s me trying to follow my own advice 😅

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

If you feel like supporting me and my work, consider Powering-Up GameDev Relay 🎮

Tip GameDev Relay with a Power-Up ⬆️

Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is August 18th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 Hogwarts Legacy 2 Confirmed!

• 🎮 Spider-Man 3 In Development?

• 🎮 Lord of the Rings Remasters Incoming

• 🎮 Take-Two Is Working On 29 Different Games

• 🎮 Netflix Keeps Shutting Down Studios

• 🎮 Darksiders 4 and New Kingdom Come Release Window

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 Hogwarts Legacy 2 Confirmed!

After all the uncertainty around the next big Harry Potter game and Warner Bros. in general, the company finally confirmed that they are working on the next Hogwarts Legacy.

Warner Bros. addressed the next game in a recent letter to shareholders, where they talked about the future of the company and its brands. The company said that games remain an important growth lever for them, and they expect them to contribute to profitability even more meaningfully going forward as their pipeline expands, which includes the second installment of Hogwarts Legacy. Warner Bros. also reiterated once again that their strategy is focused right now on what they are calling four key $1 billion+ franchises, which are DC, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Mortal Kombat, no doubt. Unfortunately, the company didn’t share any of the details about this new sequel, so what’s next for this franchise remains a mystery.

But after the smashing success of the first game, which sold more than 12 million units and generated $850 million in its first two weeks across all platforms, and surpassed 40 million units total, the sequel was pretty much guaranteed. Especially since the rest of their line-up is in various messy stages. Game of Thrones seems to be their staple mobile franchise, as every big game they tried making ended up being a hot mess. DC is probably still recovering after the whole Suicide Squad situation, and the whole brand is still trying to figure itself out. Mortal Kombat is the only other IP that seems to be a stable earner, but fighting games have their own ceiling, so it’s hard to squeeze anything more out of it. Which leaves Hogwarts Legacy as their most successful portfolio asset that they need to keep developing. Of course, because Warner Bros. is still in the middle of a big acquisition by Paramount, this confirmation is not a guarantee yet that the game will actually be released, but at least the company is acknowledging the value this IP has and that it’s working on something else.

And I’m not sure if you played it, but the game is very fun, especially if you like the world. Even my partner played it, and she is not a big gamer in general. Of course, it could’ve been bigger, with fewer tedious quests about the same thing, but all in all, it’s probably the best Harry Potter video game out there yet. So, I’m personally very excited, and I hope that this time they will add Quidditch to the freaking game 😅

🎮 Spider-Man 3 In Development?

Speaking of new games, it looks like after Wolverine, Insomniac is planning to go back to our friendly neighborhood superhero who does whatever a spider can.

Apparently, the game is already in development, as some fans have already noticed an IMDb listing for it. Of course, it doesn’t have a lot of details yet, but it does have some. The page reveals that Game Directors are the guys who worked on previous Spider-Man games, and Yuri Lowenthal is featured in the cast, reprising his role as Peter Parker. And the status of the project is listed as In Production, so there’s that as well. There have been no official confirmations from Sony at this point, but it’s probably safe to assume that the company doesn’t want to draw attention away from Wolverine right now. So, the best guess is that they are going to wait a little while longer, allow their current game to release in peace, and when its momentum starts to die down, confirm that the next big thing is coming.

But there is also another interesting thing. A few years ago, Insomniac suffered a big cybersecurity breach, which resulted in a lot of their plans leaking to the internet. Well, according to those plans, the next thing after Wolverine was supposed to be a standalone Venom title, which was then followed by Spider-Man 3, then a new Ratchet and Clank game, and lastly an X-Men game. Of course, these plans are now more than 3 years old and were never confirmed in the first place, but my point here is that before everyone gets too excited, we should probably wait for the official announcement and maybe even some trailers.

Of course, this listing just confirms what we already knew. With how great all the previous games were and how much money they brought to both Insomniac and Sony, there is no way they are not making another one. What’s left to figure out is when they are going to release it. The only thing I’m sad about is that they are not going to port it to PC… 😢

🎮 Lord of the Rings Remasters Incoming

I’m not sure if you know this, but Aspyr recently decided to shadow drop a remastered version of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and apparently, they are planning to do even more.

Let’s talk about the re-release first. Out of the blue, War in the North went live on August 11th, and if you don’t know about this game, I highly recommend it. It is an action RPG originally released back in 2011 where you play as one of 3 characters: a Ranger, a dwarf, and an elven mage. And while Frodo is taking the One Ring to Mordor, you are tasked with preventing a second army of Sauron from forming up in the north. It’s a pretty neat hack-and-slash game for 2011 and probably one of the best LOTR games of its time. And it’s now back on all major platforms.

But what’s even more notable is what Aspyr said when they released this game. According to the company, this licensed game is the first The Lord of the Rings title released by them, and fans can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr in the future. And this, I have to say, is very exciting. Of course, the developers decided not to share which titles they are working on, and there were a lot of them during the early to mid-2000s. The Two Towers, The Return of the King, The Third Age, Conquest, Battle for Middle-earth, and the list goes on.

Honestly, that’s about time Embracer actually did something with this IP. Ever since the company acquired the rights back in 2022, I’ve been waiting for them to actually take advantage of them. They sure took their sweet time. But starting with games like this is an interesting strategy. Clearly, with the price point of around $20, they are not expecting it to make any big bucks. Maybe to reimburse them for their development efforts and to contribute a little bit to recoup licensing costs. But if I had to guess, the bigger objective is to revive the old titles, make them at least playable on modern platforms, and to make them available for nostalgic players to buy. This provides another monetization channel, keeping the interest in the IP and also a new catalog of games to explore.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m all for it. I love these old LOTR games, and I’m looking forward to them remastering stuff like Conquest or Battle for Middle-earth 😍

What are you looking forward to?

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🎮 Take-Two Is Working On 29 Different Games

If you were thinking that the only thing Take-Two has to offer is GTA 6, you would be wrong, as according to recent reports, this whale of a company has almost 30 different projects in the pipeline.

According to their latest earnings report, their current pipeline contains 3 mobile titles, 8 sports games, 3 core new IPs, and 15 existing IP releases. These 15 comprise 8 sequels and 7 remakes, remasters, or major platform extensions. Of course, a lot of these projects have not been announced yet, and it is only a snapshot of the development, but this is beyond impressive, even for a huge company like this.

And all of these titles are more or less relevant, I would say, as even GTA 6 will not be able to sustain a company that big for long. With almost 13,000 employees and more than $1 billion spent on R&D expenses alone. Of course, it doesn’t mean that all of these projects will be profitable, but GTA 6, NBA, and other 2K games most likely will. And all this will provide Take-Two with more opportunities to monetize existing audiences after the initial GTA VI revenue surge.

So, it looks like that’s one of the few companies that’s doing pretty well for itself. And you don’t see these things a lot these days, especially in game development.

🎮 Netflix Keeps Shutting Down Studios

Well, it looks like I was wrong. Just when I thought that Netflix finally found a niche for its games, the streaming giant decided to shut down two more studios.

According to Game File, Netflix is closing Los Angeles-based Night School Studio and plans to close Helsinki-based Moonloot Games. And that’s not all. The company also has plans for additional layoffs across its gaming division, but Netflix decided not to share the number of affected employees. And that is huge for a number of reasons. The first one is that Night School Studio was the first game studio acquired by the streaming giant. And the second one is that it happened just a few months after the release of their latest game, Unhinged. That’s that two-hour horror game where you use your phone as a controller.

The official reasoning is that Netflix decided to switch gears a little bit and put more focus on games for kids, party games, and narrative mainstream projects. It’s all about retention. Netflix leadership believes that those games, and those games specifically, should meaningfully affect that, and that’s the only thing this company cares about. Aside from that, it looks like the company doesn’t want to pursue mobile games anymore and wants to focus on games available on TVs and PCs via their streaming platform.

From where I’m sitting, it looks like the whole experiment with them being a game developer and a publisher is just not working out for them at all. And they are starting to realize this as well. Ever since they went into this whole thing, they have struggled with finding their niche, their approach, and the strategy in general. Of course, it doesn’t mean that they discontinue their games, but they definitely don’t want to be a traditional game publisher. They will probably keep commissioning games externally and distribute them, rather than owning a permanent production organization.

And that’s a shame, not only because I was wrong with my prediction, but because they could’ve done something great with their platform and reach. Instead, they bit off more than they could chew, destroyed more than a few indie studios, and walked away… Maybe next time leave those poor studios alone?

🎮 Darksiders 4 and New Kingdom Come Release Window

Embracer Group is working on a lot of exciting sequels, and it looks like we’ll see all of them sometime before March 2028.

According to the latest Q1 report, the company plans to release Darksiders 4 from Gunfire Games and the next Kingdom Come game from Warhorse Studios during FY2027/28, corresponding to roughly April 2027 through March 2028. Interestingly, the next Kingdom Come doesn’t have a platform list attached to it yet, but we can probably assume that the list is going to be the same as for Darksiders, which is PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox. But before we see these two, Embracer will be focused on Metro 2039, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4. And there is also a list of projects that don’t have a release date yet, games like a new Lord of the Rings open-world RPG, Deus Ex Remastered, and Thief: The Dark Project Remastered.

So, all in all, Embracer is quite busy. But of all the things, I think Darksiders is probably the riskiest investment of it all, and one that I’m looking forward to the most. Well, maybe besides LOTR PRG. All the games on the list either have a huge audience that will probably buy the game no matter how good or bad it is, like Warhammer or Kingdom Come, for example. Games that have lower financial expectations than most AAA projects, like all these remasters. And games that are up-and-comers, like Metro 2039. The story with Darksiders is a little different. The last game in the series recouped development and marketing investments, but I couldn’t find any other financial indicators that the game was a success. And to be honest, it’s a much more niche game, despite it being a very mass-market action game.

But I personally love them. I think both the setting and action were amazing, especially in the first two games. But average performance is not really what shareholders are looking for right now. They are looking for smash hits that bring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. So, Gunfire Games has to work extremely hard to prove that this franchise can regain relevance again rather than simply satisfying the existing fan base. And that’s a tough ask in the current state of the industry…

What games from Embracer are you looking forward to?

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Nerd Central

Gaming Nitpicks: Downsizing and Layoffs

The Catalyst…

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3 months ago · 5 likes · John Murphy

A great take on the bane of my existence! Truth be told, I could rant about this topic for hours, and unfortunately, I agree: the layoffs are becoming the new normal, for a variety of reasons. And again, unfortunately, there is nothing any of us can do about it. For me, it means living in constant fear of being laid off, accepting it, and trying to do the best with what I have. I keep hearing from other game dev veterans that times like this come and go, but I’m really looking forward to us returning to times when most of the game companies were thriving 😅

😄 Personal Update

If you were wondering what I’m playing right now, I recently started playing League of Legends Classic, and it went exactly how I expected.

I have to say, Riot Games did a pretty good job converting the old game to this new mode, and it’s been pretty fun to get back into all the old systems. Old champions, runes, masteries, even sounds trigger a lot of positive nostalgia moments, and of course, all the fun builds are back, and the game is back to being unbalanced AF. But this nostalgia, at least for me, wore off pretty fast.

It’s fun to play, but all in all, it’s still the same game I’ve been playing for a very long time. Also, since there are no ranked game modes or anything like that, you are pretty much playing just for fun without any bigger objective. But now I’m wondering: have you played it yet, and what do you think? And do you even care? 😅

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

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Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is August 11th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 Sony Breaks The Silence After Killing Discs

• 🎮 Palworld Goes MMO

• 🎮 EA Goes Private

• 🎮 Last Sentinel Cancelled

• 🎮 What’s Next For Xbox After Big Reset

• 🎮 Halo Studios Suffers Layoffs After Campaign Evolved

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 Sony Breaks The Silence After Killing Discs

Sony’s decision to kill their physical products was very controversial. Fans all around the world started pleading for the publisher to reconsider, but the company stayed silent. Well, they finally decided to react.

In case you were living under a rock, Sony announced a few months ago that they are sunsetting physical disc production in January 2028 for all new games. Obviously, it didn’t sit well with the fans, and a lot of people started criticising Sony right away. Fans even organized a petition for the manufacturer to reconsider its decision. But only now has the company started to break the silence with some comments on the matter.

Sony recently published their Q1 Earnings Report, and it speaks volumes when it comes to this decision. As it reveals that PlayStation sold 66.1 million PS4 and PS5 full-game units, with digital downloads making up 82% of those, while in 2025 the number was 78%. Additionally, in a Q&A portion of the report, the company once again said that the decision to discontinue physical disc production was driven in part by the ongoing digitalization of content as a whole, and while there is a lot of negative sentiment around it, they do not expect it to impact their business in any meaningful way. But at the same time, they will continue to consider carefully how best to respond to the preferences and expectations of our players. Which is all a very convoluted way of saying that Sony doesn’t really care what you think, as long as you are buying their games in digital format, and it plans to keep moving forward with this decision. Also, when it comes to retailers, the company plans to introduce a sales model in which packages include download codes instead of physical discs to mitigate the impact of this discontinuation.

And I know what you think: all of this is nothing new. Is this all they have to say about it? And you are right. Sony still hasn’t addressed a lot of things when it comes to differences between physical and digital. It still hasn’t introduced transferable licenses, authorized resale, digital lending, or any other things that were possible with physical products. And also, considering that these days companies can discontinue a game whenever they want, we still haven’t heard how they are going to address the ownership side of things.

I get that decisions like these are easy to make and justify because it’s good for business, but for a company that is constantly talking about how it is putting its players first, it sure has a funny way of showing it with stunts like that.

🎮 Palworld Goes MMO

After the massive success of Palworld, it was only a matter of time before they started licensing their IP, and now it officially happened with Palworld Online.

This is a new mobile MMO project developed and published by Garena. In the official announcement, the president of the company acknowledged that Palworld had become a widely recognized IP and that they saw an opportunity to bring the essence of the PC title to mobile in a unique way within an MMO ecosystem. While there isn't much we know about the game so far, we do know it will be an open-world game with vast, interconnected systems, hidden treasures, challenges, lore, and, of course, lots and lots of Pals to collect. Palworld Online will also feature co-op progression with PvP and PvE elements, immersive survival and crafting, all packaged into your phone with a lot of accessibility features and even optional one-tap controls.

And it makes sense for Pocketpair to start licensing their IP, especially for a project like this. Garena has extensive experience when it comes to development and live-ops of mobile games, and they are pretty good at it, with games like Arena of Valor and Free Fire being probably the most successful ones. Not to mention the fact that by not doing the heavy lifting themselves, they are getting their brand in front of more people and getting paid in the process. What’s not to love about this scenario?

But here’s a question. Pocketpair already licensed the development of Palworld Mobile to Krafton, so why are they planning to make two games about the same thing? And I know, Palworld itself is not an MMO; it’s more of a sandbox-survival-collection game, but it’s not very far from it. And with both Krafton and Garena kind of competing for the same audience, can they really make two distinct games while still being called Palworld?

Personally, I think it will be very hard for Pocketpair to manage this situation with two different companies. Of course, brand expansion is always a good thing, and it can attract more players to their main game and diversify their revenue streams, but without close involvement and maintaining quality standards, they might end up associating themselves with two subpar projects that will only hurt their image. So, they need to be very careful with how this licensing agreement progresses.

What do you think about playing a Palworld MMO?

🎮 EA Goes Private

And this time, it’s finally official for the first time since 1990.

After the announcement last year, Electronic Arts is once again a privately owned company as of August 4th, and it’s now being controlled by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. And this transaction was not cheap. It cost a staggering $55 billion and became the largest buyout in history. The CEO of the company, Andrew Wilson, obviously expressed quite a lot of excitement in the official press release. He is saying that this is a brand-new chapter for the company, and with their new partners who share their vision and ambition, they are going to invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire them every day. He also said a lot of other things, about how the company wants to continue making exciting stories, reach new audiences, and of course, use AI to enhance game development and player experiences. And phew, that’s a lot of smoke.

While all these things sound absolutely fantastic in a press release, they are really just words and don’t mean anything. The big question is how it is going to impact their current and future games. My personal take is that we are going to see fewer games from EA, not more. And here’s why.

While the company doesn’t have public shareholders anymore and it doesn’t need to defend quarterly earnings to them anymore, they have the next best thing: owners and lenders who sponsored the acquisition. Lenders, who have a $20 billion debt commitment from the company. Meaning that EA now has to work that much harder to service this debt. So, with all that, even though the company could still support long development cycles for selected projects, it is more likely that it will focus more on franchises that provide proven commercial value instead of gambling on something new.

Of course, if you are a fan of EA Sports, Battlefield, or Apex, it is a good thing, as these games are not going anywhere. But if you are a fan of more niche EA products, like Dragon Age, Need for Speed, or Command & Conquer, I wouldn’t expect any new excitement announcements any time soon.

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🎮 Last Sentinel Cancelled

One more ambitious project that was aimed to be a GTA / Cyberpunk rival, apparently, is no more.

Last Sentinel was announced back in 2023 as a debut AAA open-world game from Lightspeed LA studio and funded by Tencent, set in a futuristic Tokyo with famous Troy Baker. The game quickly gathered a lot of hype around it, and some people were even saying that it would finally be a game to take on GTA. But it looks like it just wasn’t meant to be, as Bloomberg recently published a big piece on how things are going at Lightspeed. Apparently, after six years of development and hundreds of millions of dollars, the latest closed-door playtests turned sour, and Tencent’s executives were not happy with the state of the game. It didn’t feel anything like a Rockstar game; it was janky and didn’t hit the quality bar at all. And after realizing that something like this cannot possibly compete with GTA 6, the Chinese company decided to pull the plug.

Of course, it’s not official yet, but the Lightspeed leadership is reportedly already telling their employees that Tencent is no longer moving forward with this project, and at least 68 employees were already laid off. And while I am sad that another project was lost and a lot of people lost their jobs, that’s probably not a very shocking turn of events.

First of all, I mean, I understand that every new studio wants to aim high and make their own Baldur’s Gate 3, GTA 6, and Expedition 33, but we all have to be realistic. Trying to compete with the level of quality and expertise of Rockstar on day 1 is like trying to climb Everest after a rock-climbing teambuilding event. But second of all, how come after 6 years of development both the developer and the publisher are only now realizing the state the project is in? What were they doing all these years? How did they greenlit the whole production without validating their concepts? If everything is so bad, they should’ve spotted it a long time ago and adjusted their course, but now it sounds like Tencent was just signing the cheques and Lightspeed didn’t know what the hell they were doing. So, if anything, this experiment is a failure of mismanagement on both their parts.

Honestly, I keep getting amazed by this industry. Some projects keep getting millions of dollars in funding without a good proof of concept, like this one, while games that clearly demonstrated commercial potential even in the same setting, like Deus Ex, are being slowly forgotten. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s fair.

🎮 What’s Next For Xbox After Big Reset

So, the dust has settled after the biggest Xbox Reset; now what? Well, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has a lot of ambitious goals and some big priorities.

According to an internal memo obtained by The Verge, the big goal for the company now is to “return Xbox to the player”, whatever that means, and to grow revenue, of course. Her whole strategy rests on 4 main pillars: strengthen the platform, led by console; grow great games into global franchises; make Minecraft the world’s leading creator platform; and extend the worlds that fans love. Of course, a lot of it is just vague corporate language that doesn’t mean anything specific. The only tangible thing is the emphasis on Minecraft. But with all that in mind, their eventual goal is to scale what works and, by FY2030, to be halfway to their long-term daily-player goal with sustained double-digit growth in players and engagement and industry-leading margins.

It all boils down to one thing: Xbox wants to double down on its biggest franchises. And it makes sense, because Sharma also shared that 3 of them generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue. She conveniently didn’t mention which ones, but some people speculate that the CEO might be talking about Candy Crush, Minecraft, and Call of Duty.

But this strategy has its own problems. Prioritizing known franchises doesn’t eliminate risks; it just shifts them. Even the best and most well-known franchises could fail and nullify all the investment. The only upside is cost controls, shared technology, and coordinated marketing efforts. The quantity doesn’t guarantee quality and commercial success. And if we are talking about Call of Duty and the rest, I’m pretty sure that all of them already reached their respective revenue ceilings.

The biggest question is whether those games can grow without weakening the creative pipeline required to produce the next big thing. And that’s a very big question for Xbox right now.

🎮 Halo Studios Suffers Layoffs After Campaign Evolved

Speaking of Xbox, it recently launched a new game across all platforms, including PlayStation, and it looks like it’s not doing so well.

The newest Halo: Campaign Evolved launched on July 28th on all major platforms as well as being on Game Pass on day one, and it is the first mainline Halo game on PlayStation. And after a month, Insider Gaming is already reporting that several employees from Halo Studios are being laid off. So far, we know that the studio lost a Game Producer, Scrum Master, Software Engineer, and some contractors. Which probably has something to do with the game’s early performance.

We don’t know any official figures, but if we take a look at Steam, we see a little over 25,000 concurrent player peak, which is much lower than The Master Chief Collection or even a free-to-play Halo Infinite. The reviews are not great as well; so far it’s sitting on Mixed reviews with a lot of players criticising different things, like the game requiring account linking and online connection to play it, numerous bugs, and the fact that this game is apparently not much different from The Master Chief Collection. But then again, Xbox is still not done with their restructuring, and these people departing from the company might be the result of that and not necessarily the performance of the game.

After all, we all know too well already that even if the game is a smash hit, the developers can still be laid off because of, well, reasons. And the bottom line here is that even if you are associated with one of the biggest franchises, you are never safe at Xbox.

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Feats N' Faults

FN'F, Star Wars: Jedi Masters

Welcome back to Feats N’ Faults, where our Tiered Point System ranks and records our favorite characters based on their achievements and deeds. Please check the About Page for a more in-depth look at how points are awarded. Our Tier System is below for quick reference…

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a month ago · 5 likes · 4 comments · Shane Elliott

Honestly, I was kind of surprised that Mace Windu got as high a score as he did. But I agree, this guy doesn’t get as much love as he deserves. Also, I didn’t know about a lot of stuff from the Feats section, even though I watched quite a lot of Star Wars material 😅 And I agree, a lot of Yoda’s decisions were weird, especially for such a force-sensitive Jedi. Yet another great piece !

😄 Personal Update

As you know, I don’t always talk about the news. I started this Substack because I also wanted to share my knowledge about the video games industry, and that’s something I’ve been struggling with a lot recently.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s not what I enjoy talking about the most. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching stuff and making educational content, but that’s not exactly what GameDev Relay really stands for. Here I want to talk about video games and the industry that we all know and love. So, with that in mind, I want to introduce some new content here that I’ve been working on.

I plan to publish occasionally on the weekends (once every 2 weeks if I can swing it 😅) and I’m looking forward to what you guys think! Hopefully, it will be a little more entertaining than just me talking about QA or Production 😁

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

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Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is August 4th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 New Far Cry In The Works

• 🎮 Fable Is Already In Trouble

• 🎮 Capcom Teases Pragmata 2

• 🎮 Warner Bros. Future Remains Uncertain

• 🎮 Millions for Executives, Layoffs for Developers

• 🎮 Double Fine Announces Layoffs

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 New Far Cry In The Works

It looks like, after many months of layoffs and restructuring, Ubisoft has started to stabilize again and is greenlighting projects, at least in the Far Cry franchise.

According to Insider Gaming, the new game is a project codenamed Kodiak, and it recently passed the concept approval stage and entered the development stage at Vantage Studios. The game is set to be, as usual, an open-world first-person shooter, centered on player interactions and player-driven stories. The other interesting part is that, apparently, Ubisoft plans to use the foundations laid out by their extraction shooter project, codenamed Maverick. Seems like during the restructuring, Maverick was quietly cancelled, and it’s now being repurposed to be a stepping stone for Kodiak. Meanwhile, another Far Cry game codenamed Blackbird is also struggling, but according to the report, it remains the next mainline game in the franchise, and the company is committed to seeing it through.

Of course, nothing has been officially confirmed by Ubisoft yet, but if this is true, pivoting from an extraction shooter formula to single-player is quite a drastic move, especially when all the companies are dreaming about all that sweet live-service money. On the other hand, with the closure of XDefiant and the cancellation of The Division Heartland, maybe Ubisoft doesn’t want to gamble with this niche anymore.

There is still one thing, though. If we already have one single-player project in the works, why do we need another one? I mean, I’m all for more single-player games and all that, but this new game has to be at least somewhat different. The modern-day audience, especially in this genre, is not going to just buy another game just because it has the Far Cry name on it. It has to have a separate identity, unique structure, and value proposition that’s different from Blackbird, whatever it’s going to be.

Clearly, Ubisoft is putting a lot of eggs in the basket of newly formed Vantage Studios. The question is how well it is going to live up to all internal and external expectations. That’s what we’ll find out in a couple of years.

🎮 Fable Is Already In Trouble

After several delays, the new reimagining of the franchise is still planning to release on February 23, 2027, but it may already be at a disadvantage.

According to the report from WindowsCentral, the inside sources are claiming that Fable is uncomfortably over budget already, and the game is not even out yet. The game was already advertised multiple times as very ambitious. Playground themselves said Fable contains more than 1,000 individually designed NPCs, all fully voiced, with approximately 100 actors used for that population alone. NPCs have schedules, homes, occupations, personality traits, and relationship states. Apparently, the studio tried a procedural approach first, but it didn’t work out so well, so they decided to hand-craft everything. From a development perspective, that is A LOT of work, and we are not even talking about the rest of the game.

The other big problem for this game is the fact that Sony recently announced that God of War: Laufey will launch on PS5 on February 16, 2027, which means that both titles will be competing for attention during the same time period. And that might not have been a big deal if Fable wasn’t also available on Game Pass on day 1. That means that both Playground and Xbox need PlayStation and Steam revenue to get a return on all those investments. And going up against a dedicated exclusive from Sony right out of the gate? That’s tough.

After all, ROI is kind of a big deal, especially right now. Even a well-received game can still produce weak financial results if the production costs were through the roof. So far, the team working on Fable is doing quite a lot to make this game a success, but the odds keep stacking against them. Personally, I want this game to succeed, and to play more games in this universe. But I think that Xbox is trying to combine two contradictory strategies here, leveraging Game Pass and hoping for big premium AAA money. With the new exclusives approach they announced a few weeks ago, they needed to either pull Fable from PlayStation or Game Pass, because right now it feels like both of these things could harm the profitability of this project. Of course, it’s probably too late for this and Playground Games will have to play the hand they’ve been dealt.

But it would be such a shame to see this franchise being put on ice once again, just because a bunch of execs decided to shift strategies at the finish line and made them trip over it.

🎮 Capcom Teases Pragmata 2

Pragmata took the gaming world by storm when it was released, and it looks like Capcom is already thinking about a sequel.

According to Bloomberg, the company recently reported record profits since 2014, fueled by record sales. And quite a lot of these sales were attributed to their new IP. After its release in April, the game has already surpassed 2.5 million copies in sales, and Capcom says the momentum this title has gained has exceeded all internal expectations. The company’s Corporate Officer already says the likelihood of a sequel is high and that Pragmata might just become yet another flagship IP and a source of long-term revenue. That, combined with the fact that this title managed to keep development costs pretty low, makes the sequel argument that much stronger.

Of course, it’s not an official announcement yet, but everything points to a sequel at this point. Players are happy, because they now have a new game with unique gameplay mechanics and a compelling story. And executives are happy, because the ROI was through the roof. I mean, 1 million copies sold in just two days from the brand-new IP that everybody expected to be niche at best. Why wouldn’t you want to do more in a state like this? And seeing how careful and selective Capcom has been with their portfolio, I think Pragmata deserves to be something more than just a one-off.

Obviously, it’s not anywhere near Monster Hunter or Resident Evil at this point, but a mid-tier franchise to diversify their catalogue is always a good idea for a big publisher, especially when they are getting a very big bang for not a lot of bucks.

Yet another time Capcom proves to Western game developers that even a new single-player IP can be very successful without chasing monetization trends or being a live-service. Way to go, Capcom!

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🎮 Warner Bros. Future Remains Uncertain

It looks like a massive merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. hit a roadblock as the transaction has been put on hold in the US.

Variety recently reported that a big legal antitrust action was initiated by a coalition of 12 US state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, and it’s not blocking this deal from being closed for at least 28 days, pending the outcome of a trial. This coalition provided a pretty straightforward argument: when too few corporations have too much power in markets central to American life, it makes things more expensive, and it makes things worse. According to them, blocking this merger from ever happening will be the best thing for audiences, movie theaters, and the many people who write, build, and create the art, news, and entertainment so many of us enjoy.

And that makes sense, but it leaves WB in a pretty awkward position. The company still continues to operate independently, and its gaming division seems to still be committed to its four-franchise strategy around Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC, and Game of Thrones. But they keep losing revenue, and we haven’t seen a decent title from them in years now. And all these business circumstances will likely hit the gaming division as well.

I’m sure there are a lot of plans from Paramount on how to make this merger worthwhile, but it’s all about timing. Now, all these plans are put on hold, shareholders and executives are losing money, and that means only one thing these days. Layoffs, cancellations, closures, and a more selective process when it comes to any and all projects. Also, any legal action raises the risk of Paramount abandoning this whole idea altogether, and for WB it means even more trouble as the company was already deep in debt when Skydance decided to buy them.

All in all, it looks like if you are a fan of Warner Bros. Games, you shouldn’t hold your breath on any of their upcoming projects.

🎮 Millions for Executives, Layoffs for Developers

It looks like that’s how EA Games is rewarding people who work there. And I have to warn you, there is going to be a lot of ranting here.

According to a recent SEC filing, while an undisclosed number of people left EA during a third round of layoffs this year alone, Andrew Wilson and other executives received millions of dollars, thanks to the fact that all the milestones for their games were achieved. Battlefield 6 achieved all milestones for a high-quality launch with positive critical reviews and stable services and gameplay; EA Sports achieved the specified retention goal and audience growth targets; Apex delivered on the project plan and strategic steps, whatever they were. Every project achieved its goals. The company even praised launching a GenAI investment framework and using AI to advance research. But if it’s all sunshine and rainbows, why layoffs?

And I know that it’s just me yelling at clouds here, but how did we get here? I mean, we all have jobs, right? We all have our bosses and our specific struggles. So, why are executives and employees being treated differently? Why are executives always rewarded for successful launches and financial results, but rarely impacted by restructuring or layoffs? I have so many questions and so few answers here, just a lot of anger.

Again, if you are a regular employee, it looks like you are in a no-win situation no matter how you slice it, and there is always one result at the end of the tunnel.

🎮 Double Fine Announces Layoffs

Shortly after splitting from Xbox and going independent again, the creators of Keeper and Kiln announced that they decided to let go of 23 members of their staff.

The founder of the company, Tim Schafer, announced the layoffs some time ago on social media and said that these actions were not taken lightly, but the survival of the studio was at risk, and this decision had to be made. Which is unfortunate, but probably bound to happen considering the scale of their titles and the loss of Xbox infrastructure to support them. And it’s not just about being part of Game Pass or publishing; we are talking about all the mundane stuff that nobody talks about, like payroll, future projects, publishing negotiations, server infrastructure, and a lot of other things.

The good news is that they still have all their IPs, like Psychonauts, which was probably the biggest hit for this studio. IP ownership gives management several options: multiplatform ports, remasters, selective sequels and licensing. But my guess is that in the near future they would need to either do the same thing that Compulsion Games did and start looking into being a work-for-hire studio or find a partner who will bankroll their next game. At least that way they would be able to keep the lights on and keep their studio alive until they have enough capital to do something big again.

Everybody thinks that being indie is such a great thing, but as you can see, it has a lot of uncertain, scary moments, and it is definitely not a guarantee of financial stability. And without it, there is no game development, unfortunately.

🫡 True Tribute!

oya’s game hub

Co-op Days: Trine

Co-op Days is a series where I write about the multiplayer/co-op games I’ve played with my friends and let you know my unfiltered thoughts. While I usually play games with my brother and our childhood friends every Sunday, I may also talk about games that I’ve played with my partner or with my other friends…

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4 months ago · 12 likes · 8 comments · Oya

Oh man, Trine is such an amazing game! This takes me back to when the first game was released. It was such a cool concept back in the day. The puzzles, gameplay, and the story of the original were soooo good. I haven’t played the last couple of them, but the first few were great, and it’s great to hear that you enjoyed them as well! Also, kudos for digging it up! There aren’t a lot of people who even know about these games!

😄 Personal Update

The last few weeks were kind of crazy, but I think I finally figured out what I need to do to be less stressed out all the time. It’s not something I wanted to do, but I have no choice if I want to get out of a hamster wheel.

So, from this point forward, it’s going to be 1 newsletter issue per week. Unfortunately, with the YouTube channel, the time it takes to record, edit, and package everything, as well as handling a full-time job, chores, and the rest, I just can’t keep it up anymore.

Honestly, I wish I could. And I plan to get back into it as soon as I can start outsourcing the editing and the packaging side of things 😅 Which probably won’t happen for the next several years, but it’s something to work toward.

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

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Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.