Category: Gaming

A dispute between the Pokémon franchise and political figures in the United States has intensified after the company behind the global entertainment brand criticised the use of its imagery in partisan online memes associated with the administration of President Donald Trump.The Pokémon Company International said it had not authorised the use of its intellectual property in social media posts that circulated widely online and incorporated imagery from the newly released game “Pokopia.” The posts, which included a stylised design echoing

Game Republic New Horizons has assembled a new international advisory board to guide the development of its 2026 conference, marking a strategic move by the long-running games industry network to strengthen its global reach and influence. Organisers say the board will help shape the programme, identify emerging opportunities across the games ecosystem, and ensure the event reflects the priorities of developers, investors and technology partners operating in a rapidly evolving sector.Game Republic, a Yorkshire-based organisation that connects game developers, publishers

Sales patterns for PlayStation titles released on PC show shrinking audience share, yet industry analysis suggests the trend reflects release timing rather than a collapse in demand for Sony’s games on the platform.Market data compiled by analytics firm Newzoo indicates that titles originally developed for PlayStation 5 continue to attract strong interest among PC players, though the share of PC audiences engaging with them has declined compared with earlier releases. Analysts say the change stems largely from the growing gap

Battlefield 6 claimed the top honour at the UKIE Video Game Awards 2026, securing the title of UK Game of the Year and winning the award for best PC game at a ceremony that celebrated innovation and commercial success across the video game industry. The recognition places the long-running military shooter franchise at the centre of the United Kingdom’s annual celebration of interactive entertainment, highlighting its commercial reach and critical impact in a competitive year for major releases.Organised by UK

Sony Group Corp. has scaled back plans to bring flagship PlayStation titles to personal computers, signalling a renewed emphasis on console exclusivity after several years of experimenting with broader distribution. The shift marks a notable recalibration for the company’s gaming division, which had expanded its strategy to include PC launches for some of its most popular titles.Executives overseeing the PlayStation business have indicated that future first-party games designed primarily for the PlayStation 5 platform will not follow the same path

DataBank has appointed Rob Johnson, the former chief executive of Vertiv, and Daniel Sturman, previously chief technology officer at Roblox, to its board of directors, sharpening the edge data centre operator’s leadership bench as artificial intelligence workloads reshape infrastructure demand.The Dallas-based company confirmed the additions as it expands capacity across the United States to support enterprises deploying AI, cloud computing and latency-sensitive applications. The appointments bring together experience in power and cooling systems, hyperscale infrastructure, distributed computing and software architecture

Sony Santa Monica is developing a new project set within the universe of God of War, signalling an expansion of the long-running action-adventure franchise that has centred on the character Kratos for nearly two decades.Multiple industry reports indicate the studio, owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is working on a separate title distinct from the mainline series that concluded its Norse saga with God of War Ragnarök in 2022. While Sony has not formally detailed the project, recruitment activity and comments

British games developer Splash Damage has acquired Croatian studio Gamepires, the creator of survival title Scum, from Jagex in a deal backed by private equity firm Emona Capital, marking another shift in ownership within the mid-tier multiplayer gaming market.The acquisition transfers control of Gamepires from Jagex, best known for the long-running online role-playing game RuneScape, to Splash Damage, a London-headquartered developer with a track record in multiplayer shooters and co-development on major franchises. Financial terms of the transaction have not

New York’s attorney general has sued Valve Corporation, accusing the video game developer of running unlawful gambling schemes through loot boxes embedded in some of its most popular titles. The civil complaint alleges that digital items sold in Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 function as games of chance and expose minors to gambling mechanics in breach of state law.Attorney General Letitia James contends that Valve’s system of selling virtual “cases” or loot boxes — which players open

Artificial intelligence is triggering frustration across the video game industry as developers deploy automated tools to reduce budgets, only to face backlash from players who say quality and creativity are suffering.Studios under financial strain are increasingly turning to generative AI to assist with coding, artwork, dialogue and quality assurance. While executives argue the technology speeds up production and lowers costs, gamers have highlighted glitches, awkward scripts and recycled designs that they attribute to overreliance on automated systems. The tension reflects

Amazon Games has confirmed that its online multiplayer title King of Meat, developed by UK-based Glowmade, will cease operations on 9 April 2026, less than six months after its launch as an ambitious co-op dungeon crawler and party platformer. The move follows sustained low player engagement, with the title removed from digital storefronts and refunds being offered to all purchasers, marking a swift reversal from its high-profile debut and promotional push.The closure announcement, issued jointly by Amazon Games and

Krafton has appointed a new chief artificial intelligence officer as the South Korean games publisher accelerates efforts to embed advanced AI systems across its development studios and flagship franchises, including PUBG.The company confirmed that it has brought in a senior AI specialist with experience spanning large language models, machine learning infrastructure and applied gaming technologies to lead what it described as the next phase of its AI research and development strategy. The move places AI leadership at the executive level

Sony Interactive Entertainment is closing Bluepoint Games, the Texas-based developer known for high-profile remakes and its work on God of War Ragnarök, resulting in the loss of around 70 jobs and marking another restructuring move within PlayStation Studios.The decision brings to an end a studio widely regarded for reviving classic titles for modern hardware. Bluepoint Games, founded in 2006 and based in Austin, built a reputation for technically ambitious remasters and full-scale remakes, including Demon’s Souls for PlayStation 5, Shadow

Valve has acknowledged that the Steam Deck OLED handheld gaming device is facing intermittent stock shortages in several markets as supply constraints for memory and storage components intensify across the technology sector. A notice on the Steam Deck store page states that the 512GB and 1TB OLED configurations “may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages,” underscoring mounting production challenges for the company’s flagship portable console.The unavailability is most acute in the United States

Mac users have long faced a stubborn reality: many of the world’s most popular games are built for Windows, leaving Apple Silicon machines underused in a global industry worth more than $180 billion. A new application from Mist Studio, called GameHub, is seeking to narrow that gap by combining several compatibility technologies into a single interface designed to make Windows titles playable on macOS with far less technical effort.GameHub integrates Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit, Valve’s Proton compatibility layer and CodeWeavers’

Sega Sammy Holdings announced a substantial impairment charge against Finnish studio Rovio Entertainment as part of its financial results for the nine months ended 31 December 2025, underscoring challenges in its bid to expand mobile gaming revenue and prompting strategic shifts in its broader gaming portfolio. The company recorded an impairment loss close to US $200 million linked to Rovio’s performance, coinciding with a sharp fall in operating and ordinary income even as total sales grew modestly.The impairment reflects

Three decades after its modest debut on a handheld console, Pokémon has evolved into one of the most lucrative entertainment properties in history, generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue and emerging as a potent instrument of Japan’s cultural influence abroad.Created by Satoshi Tajiri and launched in 1996 by Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures, the franchise began with Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy in Japan. Built around the simple premise of capturing and training fantastical creatures,

Wynn Resorts has posted a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit despite edging up revenues, underscoring mounting pressure from softer gaming volumes on the Las Vegas Strip and uneven recovery in Macau as the company presses ahead with a multibillion-dollar expansion in the United Arab Emirates.The US-listed casino operator reported that net income for the final quarter fell markedly from a year earlier, even as overall revenue rose modestly on stronger hotel occupancy and non-gaming spend. Higher operating costs, promotional activity

Nexon Co., Ltd. reported revenue of $3.1 billion for 2025, a 6.5 per cent increase on the previous year, marking its third consecutive year of record-breaking sales as strong performance from key titles, including the much-anticipated Arc Raiders, bolstered earnings.The Tokyo-listed gaming group said operating income also rose year on year, supported by sustained engagement across its core franchises and improved monetisation in overseas markets. Management attributed part of the uplift to steady demand for live-service titles and the commercial

Global growth in the mobile games market slowed markedly through 2025, with spending increases tapering and downloads flattening across major regions, according to fresh analysis by data firm AppMagic, reinforcing a shift from the hyper-growth years of the pandemic to a more mature and competitive phase for the industry.The research indicates that while mobile gaming remains the largest segment of the global games business by user numbers, its rate of expansion has softened as players cut discretionary spending and developers

An HBO television adaptation of the Baldur’s Gate franchise is moving forward, with plans to set the story directly after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3 and to blend new characters with familiar faces from the game’s world. The project places one of gaming’s most influential role-playing universes on the small screen at a moment when screen adaptations of interactive storytelling are gaining momentum.The series is being developed with Craig Mazin attached as the creative lead. Mazin, who co-created HBO’s

Niantic has lined up an intensive run of events for February, marking the closing stretch of Pokémon Go’s Precious Paths season and signalling an effort to maintain player engagement ahead of the next seasonal transition. The programme combines new Raid rotations, themed celebrations tied to the calendar, and a headline Community Day built around both Kanto and Alolan forms of a long-standing fan favourite, alongside the global Pokémon Go Tour focused on the Kalos region.February opens with changes to the

Women in Games has unveiled a new manifesto urging game studios, publishers and platform holders to confront entrenched gender imbalance and workplace inequities, arguing that the long-term health of the global video games sector depends on structural change rather than symbolic gestures. The document sets out a framework aimed at reshaping hiring practices, leadership pathways and creative decision-making across an industry that employs millions but continues to skew heavily male, particularly at senior levels.The manifesto’s central demand is a rebalancing

Project: Gorgon has made a significant milestone in its development with the launch of its 1.0 version, marking its transition out of Early Access and broadening its world with a substantial new map, expanded progression systems and deeper endgame mechanics. The update introduces Statehelm, a sprawling capital city designed as the largest and most intricate area the indie fantasy MMO has ever seen, featuring over 200 quests and pathways to train characters’ skills up to level 100 and beyond.The

Sony is keeping the PlayStation 6 firmly out of public view even as speculation over its arrival intensifies, with industry signals suggesting the company is prioritising longevity and performance gains for the PlayStation 5 rather than rushing a generational shift. Market expectations have clustered around a PS6 launch window between 2027 and 2029, but Sony’s current strategy points to a longer runway for the PS5, underpinned by mid-cycle hardware upgrades, software optimisation and a deepening focus on artificial intelligence tools.The

Epic Games is intensifying its efforts to stabilise Fortnite’s live-service infrastructure as player numbers remain strong and the game continues to expand through high-profile collaborations and seasonal updates, company executives and community feedback indicate.Fortnite’s design director Ted Timmons has said the developer is “stepping up” its focus on the live game, acknowledging that while new seasons and crossover content are drawing attention, persistent technical problems risk undermining player experience. His comments follow weeks of heightened discussion within the Fortnite community

Comments from Chris Pratt have reignited discussion around the direction of Nintendo and Illumination’s next animated Mario feature, with the actor suggesting that the follow-up to The Super Mario Bros. Movie will broaden its character roster and explore corners of the franchise that were only lightly touched in the first film.Pratt, who voices Mario, has spoken in promotional interviews for other projects about returning to the Mushroom Kingdom and the scale of what lies ahead. While avoiding plot specifics, he

US lawmakers have called on the Federal Trade Commission to take an expansive and rigorous look at the proposed roughly $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts by a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, urging scrutiny of its potential impact on workers, studios and competition across the video-game sector. Leaders of the Congressional Labor Caucus and a broader group of House Democrats warned that the deal could prompt deeper layoffs, closures of development studios and practices that

GameStop has moved bitcoin valued at about $420 million to Coinbase Prime, triggering market speculation over whether the videogame retailer is preparing to sell part of its digital asset holdings or repositioning them for custody and treasury management.Blockchain tracking firms flagged the transfer after a series of transactions shifted thousands of bitcoins from wallets associated with GameStop into addresses linked to Coinbase Prime, the institutional platform used by corporates, hedge funds and asset managers for custody, execution and financing. The

Walmart and Unity have rolled out a new immersive commerce software-development kit that allows game creators to embed real-world shopping experiences directly within Unity-built titles and apps, marking a shift in how physical retail intersects with interactive entertainment. The free SDK empowers developers to integrate Walmart’s commerce systems, catalogue and checkout functionality into gameplay without forcing players to exit the virtual environment, unlocking fresh monetisation routes for studios of all sizes.Designed to blur the lines between digital engagement

GameStop is preparing to shut down nearly 30 outlets across New York State, a move that underscores the videogame retailer’s deepening retreat from bricks-and-mortar locations as it retools its business for a market reshaped by digital distribution and tighter consumer spending. The closures span dense urban neighbourhoods and smaller regional centres, signalling a broad reassessment rather than a targeted pullback.In New York City, multiple stores across all five boroughs are scheduled to go dark, according to filings and communications shared

Ubisoft is expanding its investment in generative artificial intelligence as project delays, cancellations and workforce reductions continue to weigh on one of the industry’s largest publishers, signalling a strategic bet that automation can stabilise pipelines and control costs while reshaping how blockbuster games are built.The company has been grappling with uneven release schedules and rising development budgets across its global studios, prompting leadership to prioritise tools that accelerate content creation without undermining creative control. Executives have framed generative AI as

Simulation gaming is entering a decisive phase as developers line up ambitious releases for 2026, aiming to blur the boundary between play, creativity and complex systems modelling. Studio roadmaps, technology showcases and early access builds indicate a year shaped by expansive virtual environments, advanced artificial intelligence and a growing crossover between entertainment, education and professional training.Momentum has been building through 2025, with simulation titles benefiting from steady improvements in graphics engines, cloud computing and consumer hardware. What sets 2026 apart

Poppy Playtime’s fifth chapter is set to launch in February, extending the indie horror series into its most claustrophobic and confrontational instalment yet as players are driven deeper into the ruins of the Playtime Co. factory. The new chapter escalates the narrative stakes by placing the player under constant threat from a puppetmaster figure who has lurked at the edges of the story, while expanding the game’s environmental storytelling and puzzle mechanics.Developed by Mob Entertainment, the chapter continues directly from