A Fallout TV show countdown has sparked new game speculation, but don’t expect a shadow drop of the rumoured Fallout 3 remaster.

One of the worst kept secrets in gaming is a remaster of Fallout 3, which was first outed three years ago in leaked Microsoft documents.

Last year’s launch of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was also leaked in the same documents, has only reaffirmed its existence. While we have no idea of when the remaster will be officially announced, some are pinning their hopes on a mysterious countdown which has popped up on a Fallout TV show promotional site.

The website, created by Amazon, sports the same classic green-tinted look as the game’s menus, and features several widgets you can interact with to explore locations or solve cryptic puzzles on terminals.

In the top right-hand corner though, there is a locked widget with a countdown to February 4, 2026. This is when the finale of Fallout season two is set to drop, leading some people to (optimistically) believe it could be tied to some sort of new game announcement.

Reliable insider NateTheHate responded to some of the speculation on X, reaffirming thatthe Fallout 3 remaster does exist, but that he is ‘not certain of a reveal window for it’.

According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, the countdown isn’t for a new Fallout game or remaster. However, he also states a new version of Fallout 3 ‘in the vein of Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered’ is on the way, ‘as well as Fallout: New Vegas on top’.

Corden further claims developer Obsidian, the creators of Fallout: New Vegas, has four projects in the works, ‘some big some small’. However, it’s unclear if any of them are Fallout related (the only one we do know about is Grounded 2, which debuted in early access last year).

This isn’t the first time Corden has talked about a Fallout: New Vegas remaster. He claimed it was on the way in November last year, but if a Fallout 3 remaster is coming too, it’s unclear if Fallout: New Vegas will be bundled with it at the same time, or arrive at a later date.

Corden uses the terms remaster and remake interchangeably, but nothing so far, from him or any other sources, suggests anything beyond the scope of Oblivion Remastered.

A remaster, or remake, of Fallout: New Vegas, widely regarded as one of the best games in the series, has been discussed at Obsidian for years. We’ll have to wait and see if it will come to fruition, but considering the success of Amazon’s Fallout show, it seems more likely than ever.

But if the timer’s not for a game, what could the Amazon countdown relate to? The Fallout show has already been renewed for a third season, but considering the website is filled with 3D tours of specific locales, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something related to an as-yet unseen location in the show.

We’re set to learn more about Microsoft’s slate for this year at it’s next planned Developer Direct, which is expected to air in late January.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer previously stated that Forza Horizon 6, Fable, and Gears Of War: E-Day are all set to come out in 2026, to mark Xbox’s 25th anniversary, but so far nobody at Microsoft or Bethesda has said anything substantial about Fallout remasters.

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Arc Raiders was the biggest seller on Steam over Christmas but you’re never going to guess what was number two.

The Christmas break is the perfect time to pick up a bargain in the sales, whether it’s the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, or Steam.

These discounts can lead to a sharp spike in sales and, for Steam especially, it was a very lucrative month. According to Alinea Analytics, Steam had its highest-grossing December ever in 2025, with the storefront generating $1.6 billion (£1.18 billion) in gross revenue.

This figure is 22.7% higher than December 2024, and is even above the pandemic highs of December 2020, where revenue soared to $1.4 billion (£1 billion).

As for what games sold the most during that period, Arc Raiders ruled the roost in terms of copies sold. Between December 21 and January 4, during the Steam Winter sale, the extraction shooter sold 1.2 million copies.

Arc Raiders’ popularity has stayed strong since it launched in October last year, but these sales were boosted by a 20% discount. According to Alinea Analytics, the shooter has now surpassed 12 million copies sold across all platforms since launch, with 7 million copies sold on Steam alone.

The second biggest-seller on Steam, between December 21 and January 4, was much less predictable tough: 2018’s Detroit: Become Human, which sold 993,000 copies during this period. Developed by Quantic Dream, it’s a choice-based sci-fi adventure with all the narrative subtlety of a wrecking ball.

Detroit: Become Human was a massive 90% off during the Steam Winter Sale, bringing it down to $4 (£3.40) in the US. The concurrent player count surged to record highs as well, due to this discount, with over 25,000 people playing the title on Steam on January 4, 2026 (via SteamDB).

Aside from the very cheap price, it’s unclear why so many people gravitated towards Detroit: Become Human over any other title in the sale. It does have an ‘overwhelming positive’ rating on Steam, although how it managed that feat we’re not sure.

The other top titles during this period on Steam were the co-op climber PEAK, open world survival title Icarus, and Battlefield 6. The latter, which was 30% off, sold 706,000 copies.

Quantic Dream hasn’t released a game since Detroit: Become Human, but it is working on several titles. Star Wars Eclipse is believed to be another adventure game, at least somewhat in the style of the dev’s previous titles, but Spellcasters Chronicles is a free-to-play shooter which had a closed beta last month.

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A new mystery has been discovered in Red Dead Redemption 2, that’s been in the game ever since it launched, and it might have connections to GTA 5.

Rockstar is known for creating highly detailed open worlds, and teasing fans with Easter eggs, but a new discovery in Red Dead Redemption 2 has sent players into a tizzy.

It’s been over seven years since Red Dead Redemption 2 came out, in 2018, and the western epic has continued to be popular ever since – mostly thanks to Red Dead Online mode and the breadth of its open world landscape.

While you’d think the game had long ago given up all its secrets, a newly discovered mystery involving spider webs and telegraph poles has sparked a feverish hunt within the game’s community.

This all began with a Reddit post from FL4VA-01 last month, who highlighted a spider web pattern on a telephone pole on the edge of Saint Denis. Weirdly, the pattern only appears at 3am in-game time and disappears at 4am.

Since then, and as encapsulated in a video by YouTuber Strange Man, players have discovered the same web on several other telegraph poles across the map. All these poles have a spider symbol on them and when placed over the game’s map, the end of each of the symbol’s legs correlates with where each webbed telegraph pole appears.

When you head to the centre of where this symbol sits on the map, players found another web on a tree with an ‘N’ written on it. This led players to head north where they found another pole which, when shot, has instructions to head five poles west.

After heading west, players found another pole with a ‘NW’ symbol and a guitar icon, which many took as a hint to head towards a guitar in Fort Wallace. However, players are now stuck trying to find the next clue – with some believing it relates to two bird symbols etched into a roof tile.

It’s thoroughly bonkers stuff, yet the evidence is pretty convincing. Players have verified this has been in the game from the start too, so it’s not something that’s been added recently, but whether it leads to anything of significance remains to be seen.

If you’re not convinced, there are actually spider webs in GTA 5 which similarly only appear at specific hours at two different locations, but they don’t appear to be connected to anything – or at least they haven’t sparked any treasure hunt comparable to this one in Red Dead Redemption 2.

For now, we’ll have to see if players can solve this mystery before the arrival of GTA 6, which is set to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19, 2026.

Red Dead Redemption 3 would presumably be their next game after that but if these clues have been in the game from the start they can’t be a hint about that.

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The controversial final battle in Stranger Things is littered with gaming references, according to the show’s creators, with Baldur’s Gate 3 a major inspiration.

As a show built around 1980s nostalgia, Stranger Things and video games have been intertwined ever since the series began in 2016.

Many episodes, across all five seasons, have featured nods to classic games from the era, with the second season memorably featuring arcade cabinets for Dig Dug and Dragon’s Lair. This continues in the fifth and final season, where Derek is seen playing Ghosts ‘N Goblins on the NES, and Steve Harrington’s skills on Duck Hunt are used as a punchline.

But now, the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, have explained how the final battle with Vecna and the Mind Flayer was inspired by the much more recent Baldur’s Gate 3.

Speaking to Variety about the staging of the climactic fight in the two hour final episode, Matt Duffer said: ‘We were thinking about [Dungeons & Dragons] and I was playing Baldur’s Gate 3 at the time, and we felt it was very important that the only way for them to defeat it was for the entire party to work together.

‘Everyone had fully realised – either through self-acceptance or they’ve resolved all their various issues – moving into that final battle, they’re absolutely primed. They’re the ultimate team, and it’s the party working all together to defeat this thing.

‘And they each have their own individual skills, right? And that’s where I go back to Dungeons & Dragons, and something like Baldur’s Gate. Because that’s how you take down these monsters that seem otherwise unstoppable. Lots of video game references were applied to that final battle.’

As Baldur’s Gate 3 is an adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons, which is a key inspiration for Stranger Things, it’s unsurprising to hear Larian’s role-player had some influence on the show – even if a party coming together to defeat the big bad isn’t exactly unique to that game.

While it’s unclear what other game references are in the final battle, the overall setup is very reminiscent of a final boss fight. In the battle (spoilers ahead), a large group of the core cast go up against the Mind Flayer and Vecna in the Abyss (a term borrowed from Dungeons & Dragons).

All the characters get a moment to shine, and at one point Mike, Lucas, Robin, and Jonathan climb a cliff to bombard the spider-like beast – with the staging very reminscent of a classic video game boss fight.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 nod has since caught the attention of Larian CEO Swen Vincke, who shared an article with Matt Duffer’s comments on X, adding: ‘That’s pretty cool.’

As revealed last month, Larian’s next game after Baldur’s Gate 3 is Divinity. While there’s no confirmed release date, it’s the seventh game in the series, following 2017’s acclaimed Divinity: Original Sin 2.

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Microsoft has revealed what the biggest third party game on Xbox Game Pass is this year, and the answer might not come as a surprise.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’s perception as the best deal in gaming has been damaged this year thanks to price hikes, but it’s still home to many great games.

If you’re subscribed to the highest tier on Xbox or PC, you can access many titles as they come out at launch, with the likes of Halo: Campaign Evolved and Forza Horizon 6 both due to hit the service when they arrive in 2026.

Beyond games published by Xbox themselves, some third party titles are also available on day one, with this year seeing the likes of Blue Prince, The Alters, and Rematch all hitting the service at launch.

However, none of these have take the crown for the biggest third party launch on Xbox Game Pass in 2025. That accolade, perhaps unsurprisingly, goes to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

As announced in an Xbox Wire post, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took the title of the ‘biggest new third party game launch’ on the service this year, which is based on the number of unique users within its first 30 days.

Annoyingly though, there aren’t any exact numbers or a description of what this specific phrasing encapsulates.

We’re assuming it doesn’t include any titles from Activision or Bethesda, considering they’re now owned by Microsoft, which does eliminate a lot of competition, such as The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Either way, for an IP which was unheard of prior to this year, it’s still an impressive accolade – especially when titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, with years of anticipation behind it, also came out in 2025.

Speaking about the Game Pass record, the game’s creative director, Guillaume Broche, credited the subscription service for allowing the game to reach a broader audience. ‘The turn-based RPG genre has a lot of fans but sometimes it might put people who prefer more real-time action games off, but Game Pass lowered that barrier of entry,’ he said.

‘They could just try it and see how it feels. So a lot of curious players could start the game, explore Lumiere and the early game, and realise there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if they weren’t expecting it at first.’

This looks set to be the first of many accolades for Clair Obscur Expedition 33. The French role-player is nominated for a record 12 nominations at this year’s The Game Awards, including Game Of The Year, which is more than The Last Of Us Part 2 and Zelda: Breath Of The Wild received.

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You can play any game online for free this weekend on PS5 and PS4 thanks to a new Sony promotion, but the times are quite specific.

It’s been over two years since Sony last increased the price of certain PS Plus subscriptions, but it has warned another might be on the horizon in the near future.

If you’ve already been priced out of a subscription, which allows you to play games like Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Arc Raiders online, you’re in luck this weekend.

Sony has announced a free online multiplayer weekend for PlayStation 4 and 5 players starting from Saturday, December 6, which will span 48 hours in total.

When does the free PS Plus online multiplayer weekend start and end?

As highlighted by Sony, the promotion kicks off at 12.01am local time on Saturday, December 6, and runs until 11.59pm on Sunday, December 7.

During that window, you can play any online games you already own for free, so if you’ve already got Battlefield 6, for example, you can squeeze a few rounds in without needing to pay for PS Plus.

It’s important to note this free weekend will not allow you to redeem games available at the PS Plus Essential tier this month, and only applies to the online multiplayer functionality.

Another note for those unaware, you don’t need a PS Plus subscription to play free-to-play games online, such as Fortnite or Apex Legends, so take advantage of this offer by diving into something else on your digital shelf.

The PS Plus Essential line-up this month is more stacked than usual, with five games instead of the usual three. These include the excellent Neon White, Lego Horizon Adventures, Killing Floor 3, The Outlast Trials, and Synduality Echo Of Ada.

If you’re subscribed to the PS Plus Essential tier, you’ll be able to claim all these games from now until January 6, 2026. If you add the games to your account during this time, you’ll always have access to them as long as you have an active subscription.

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A new clip from Resident Evil Requiem has emerged, showing the return of traditional zombies, but they’ll be back in a different form.

Resident Evil Requiem is less than three months away and while we’ve seen plenty of action, showing the new stalker enemy and new protagonist Grace Ashcroft, Capcom hasn’t revealed much else.

It’s unclear if Leon S. Kennedy will make a return, as rumours claim, or how the game will be structured overall. Director Koshi Nakanishi, however, has stated that, in terms of its balance between horror and action, the ninth mainline entry will be closer to Resident Evil 2 than Resident Evil 4.

It remains to be seen how that will play out exactly, but based on new footage, the influence of Resident Evil 2 remake is certainly clear in terms of the zombies.

The clip comes from a documentary titled Legendary Games Chronicle: Biohazard, which aired on the Japanese TV network NHK. While it predominantly focuses on the series at large, a small snippet features new gameplay from Resident Evil Requiem.

The 30-second clip shows Capcom developers playing a sequence where Grace is shooting a classic-looking zombie, before it lurches forward in an attack animation reminiscent of the 2019 remake.

This is the first time we’ve seen proper zombies in the sequel. Capcom did confirm zombies will feature in the game during a panel at the Tokyo Game Show, but they apparently won’t be as traditional as they first appear.

According to reports from the panel, zombies in Resident Evil Requiem can undergo mutations in the middle of a fight, making them faster and more aggressive. While it’s unclear how this will play out, it does sound similar to the spider-like plagas from the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Aside from the remakes, traditional zombies have been absent from mainline Resident Evil games since 2013’s Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil 7 featured Molded monsters, while the last entry, Resident Evil Village, featured werewolves, vampire-like giants, and mutated babies.

It’s unclear how prominent zombies will be in Resident Evil Requiem, but it will be set in Raccoon City 30 years after its destruction in Resident Evil 3 – so all signs suggest it will harken back to the original trilogy for its enemy designs.

Resident Evil Requiem will launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on February 27, 2026. A remake of Resident Evil Zero is rumoured to be in development, but hasn’t been confirmed yet.

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A prominent Fortnite leaker has revealed details of a collaboration with South Park, including a comeback mechanic involving Kenny.

Fortnite has collaborated with practically every popular IP at this point, with The Simpsons, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and Stranger Things all getting the spotlight in some form over the past few months.

In terms of American animated shows, The Simpsons, Rick And Morty, King Of The Hill, and Family Guy have all featured in the battle royale in some capacity, but the one key omission for years has been South Park.

A South Park crossover in Fortnite has been rumoured since October this year, but a reliable leaker, HypeX, has now revealed the first details of what it will involve.

South Park x Fortnite is described as a ‘big collab’ by the leaker, which will feature at least one boss on the map, a Stick Of Truth mythic item, some kind of consumable, along with a rift anomaly titled ‘Everyone Kills Kenny’.

Rift anomalies are a new feature in the recently launched Fortnite Chapter 7, which modify the rules by granting powerful buffs or items to everyone in a match. According to fellow Fortnite leaker ShiinaBR on X, this Kenny anomaly will allow players to respawn after death – in reference to how he always comes back in the show.

While ‘multiple skins’ are promised in the South Park crossover, they will apparently be the much-derided mech skins. Like the recent Bart Simpson skin, or Mecha Morty from years prior, Fortnite has a habit of putting smaller characters, which don’t match the average proportions, into mech suits so there’s no strategic advantage.

It’s become the common way to get around the hit box issue, and while understandable, they always look a bit rubbish. If Stan, Cartman, Kyle, and Kenny all get mech suits though, hopefully there’ll be some normal skins of the adults in the show – such as Randy Marsh or Mr Garrison.

It’s unclear when the South Park collaboration will be released, but leaker SamLeakss has said it’ll arrive at some point this month as part of Chapter 7. A Lego Ninjago crossover is set to debut on December 11, alongside a Playboi Carti skin. A collaboration with Harry Potter is also slated to happen as part of Winterfest, according to leaks.

While South Park hasn’t yet appeared in Fortnite, the show has seen several video game adaptations over the years. The last one was South Park: Snow Day, but the most celebrated are 2014’s The Stick Of Truth and its sequel, The Fractured But Whole.

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Nintendo has released a new update for Mario Kart World, with custom item options and new course layouts for intermission tracks.

Mario Kart World may have launched in a flawed state, but Nintendo has gradually rolled out updates to address issues in the months since then.

These updates have improved the free roam mode, added online matchmaking to Knockout Tour, and reverted changes made to the frequency of traditional three lap races, among other minor fixes. However, there are still some irritations, like the overwhelmingly cluttered character select screen and the lack of a soundtrack jukebox.

Nintendo has now rolled out another update for Mario Kart World, and while those specific complaints haven’t been addressed, there are some surprising additions, which might be indicative of future updates to come.

The most unexpected change are altered layouts for certain intermission courses – specifically routes to and from Koopa Troopa Beach.

These include new obstacles across the water sections, with vines you can grind across and jumps, and some new turns (as disocvered by X user MaritheKity) to liven up the dull stretches of straight road.

Additionally, on any course heading toward Koopa Troopa Beach, you’ll now have to complete two laps of the circuit at the end instead of one – presumably because it is the shortest track in the game. These updates only apply to local Vs Race and Online Play.

While it’s unclear if Nintendo is planning to revamp other tracks in Mario Kart World, it’s an interesting way to tackle the problem some people have with the relatively straight, and uninteresting, intermission courses around the open world.

The update includes some other notable additions too. There’s now the ability to add custom item rules across Vs Race, battle modes, and private online matches, which will please any masochist who fancies blue shell-only races.

A side effect of custom items is it’s now easier to unlock certain characters tied to the Kamek item. To unlock characters like Spike or Chargin’ Chuck, you’d previously have to be transformed into the character through the Kamek item in races by your opponents, or, following an update, suck up these characters into the UFO in free roam.

Now, you can simply do a Vs Race with only the Kamek item activated. Some players have already shown how chaotic it can be in social media clips, but it’s certainly the quickest way to unlock all the minor side characters, like Peepa and and Pianta, in one messy swoop.

Other additions include a new music volume feature, the ability to see music track names in the pause menu, and when in a group online, you can now choose whether to play against anyone in the world or just players in your party with custom rules.

The full patch notes are here but while some of these features should have been in the game to begin with, it’s a welcome update and shows Nintendo is listening to some of the fan feedback.

The big question is when Nintendo will announce inevitable DLC for Mario Kart World, with the next Nintendo Direct likely not happening until early next year. The credits for Donkey Kong Bananza suggested two new characters are planned, but nothing has been officially announced.

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CD Projekt has reaffirmed plans to release three Witcher games within six years, as Cyberpunk 2077 hits a big sales milestone.

The Witcher 4 might be nominated for the Most Anticipated Game at this month’s The Game Awards, but don’t expect it to launch anytime soon.

CD Projekt previously said the sequel, the start of a new trilogy, will not be released before 2027. The studio’s co-CEO Michal Nowakowski has now reaffirmed this in a financial call, while committing to its plan to release all three Witcher games in the planned trilogy within a six year period.

While this might sound ambitious at a time when AAA games are taking longer to develop than ever, Nowakowski cites the studio’s progress using Unreal Engine 5 as a key reason why it should be possible.

‘In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time – as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between [The Witcher 4] and [The Witcher 5], between [The Witcher 5] and [The Witcher 6] and so on…,’ Nowakowski said.

So if The Witcher 4 does launch in 2027, that means The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6 could arrive in 2030 and 2033, respectively. This is the best case scenario though, as there’s every chance The Witcher 4 doesn’t arrive until 2028 (or CD Projekt decides to abandon this plan entirely).

This seems an extraordinarily short amount of time to make a giant game like this, especial as CD Projekt made no mention of AI. Perhaps all three games will be set in the same open world, but even so it’s a completely different time frame to every other big name developer working at the moment.

‘As we have already stated, The Witcher 4 is in the full-scale production phase,’ Nowakowski added. ‘We’re not disclosing any details regarding the target release date, so there’s not a point in time I could refer to when answering such a question. The only thing we’re commenting is that we’re not launching in 2026…’

Along with The Witcher 4, a remake of the first Witcher game is in development at developer Fool’s Theory. CD Projekt refused to comment when asked about a potential release date for the remake, but it’s possible it could launch next year as a stop-gap.

While The Witcher 4 is in full production, CD Projekt is also in pre-production on the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077. In the earnings call, the developer confirmed the original game has sold over 35 million copies since it launched on December 10, 2020.

CD Projekt might have news in store for Cyberpunk 2077’s fifth anniversary too. In a post on the game’s official X account, it made a point to highlight the game’s upcoming anniversary on December 10, suggesting some kind of announcement will take place.

The post also shows several in-game character birthdays in December – Solomon Reed and So Mi Song – but considering the same account has done this for other characters in recent months, it’s likely those dates are not signficiant.

It’s unclear what could be announced to celebrate Cyberpunk 2077’s fifth birthday, but some fans are hoping for another sizeable update, like patch 2.3 in July.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season two doesn’t have a release date yet either, so it could turn it into a showcase for other media in the Cyberpunk universe. Either way, we wouldn’t expect too much.

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Epic Games has been accused of using AI-generated art in Fortnite, as fans hunt down evidence in the recently launched Chapter 7.

The use of generative AI in video games has been a divisive topic over recent years, with games like Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Arc Raiders all using the technology to varying degrees.

While there’s an argument that it can help streamline certain aspects of game development, like administrative tasks, it’s a thorny issue when it’s used to replicate creative work, such as in-game art, dialogue, and music, which would otherwise be reliant on artists.

It’s even worse when generative AI is used by companies who have no shortage of cash to pay said artists, as is the case with Activision and Call Of Duty. Now, in the same vein, Fortnite creator Epic Games has found itself in the AI allegation crosshairs.

Following the launch of Fortnite Chapter 7, several Fortnite players on Reddit have accused Epic of using AI generated artwork on the game’s map. ‘I can’t tell if this is AI generated but the odd number of toes makes me think so,’ Reddit user Thready704 wrote, in relation to a poster which shows a yeti with a different amount of toes on each foot.

Other Redditors have highlighted other possible examples, including an emote which uses an AI generated song called Latata and other pieces of suspicious artwork.

In another Reddit post, one user wrote: ‘Say ‘No’ to AI slop. A billion dollar company should have no problem supporting real artists for real art.’

Is this Chapter 7 art AI generated?
byu/Thready704 inFortNiteBR

Epic Games has not confirmed whether these are AI generated or not, but one artist behind a Marty McFly image has posted evidence to clear up any AI accusations around that specific piece of artwork. ‘I don’t have a Reddit account but just in case people are being weird, here’s my procreate layers,’ illustrator Sean Dove wrote on Instagram.

Dove, however, acknowledged where the AI confusion may have come from. ‘I think the culprit is a clock in the background,’ he added. ‘I grabbed some clocks off image search, collaged them, and halftoned them. The numbers are bad, entirely possible I grabbed an AI clock [and] wasn’t paying attention.’

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRtKcKWjncq/

While it’s unclear if Epic has used generative AI elsewhere, the confusion and allegations are emblematic of how widespread AI has become, both in games and modern society at large.

In somewhat suspicious timing, last week Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said online game stores should remove ‘Made with AI’ labels as it ‘makes no sense’ today.

‘The AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation,’ Sweeney wrote on X. ‘It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.’

Sweeney goes onto jokingly compare AI disclosures to informing people about what shampoo game developers adorn themselves with. ‘Why stop at AI use? We could have mandatory disclosures for what shampoo brand the developer uses,’ he added. ‘Customers deserve to know lol.’

Since last year, Steam requires game developers to disclose the use of generative AI on store listings. The Epic Games Store, however, does not have any such requirement.

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GameCentral has collected all the best deals available on consoles and games for Cyber Monday, including a new discount on the Xbox Series S.

There has already been plenty of discounts across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles and games for Black Friday, but those sales are almost over.

If you haven’t yet taken advantage of the cheap deals, most retailers are set to end their Black Friday sales after Cyber Monday on December 1, 2025.

That means you have until the end of today to pick up any bargains before things return to full price in the run-up to Christmas. Whether you’re in the market for a new console, or just a cheap game, you can find some of the best deals below.

Best Cyber Monday PS5 console deals for 2025

The best offer on the PlayStation 5 digital edition console (without the disc drive) is on Very and Currys, where you can pick up it up for £289. This is around £1 cheaper than most other places, with Argos selling the same console for £289.99.

Alternatively, you can pick up a digital edition bundle with EA Sports FC 26 for £289.99, so you’re essentially getting the game for free. Likewise, the same deal applies to the standard PlayStation 5 console with a disc drive, which you can get for £379.99 with the footy sim.

If you’re in the market for the most technically advanced version of the console, the PS5 Pro is £130 off at £565 on EE.

• PlayStation 5 digital edition – £289 (£140 off) at Very
• PlayStation 5 digital edition – £289 (£140 off) at Currys
• PlayStation 5 digital edition Fortnite Flowering Chaos bundle – £289.99 at Argos
• PlayStation 5 digital edition and EA Sports FC 26 bundle – £289.99 at Argos
• PlayStation 5 standard console and EA Sports FC 26 bundle – £379.99 (£100 off) at Argos
• PS5 Pro console – £565 (£130 off) at EE
• PS5 Pro console and EA Sports FC 26 bundle – £565 (£135 off) at EE
• PS5 Pro and EA Sports FC 26 bundle – £569.99 at Argos

Best Cyber Monday Xbox console deals for 2025

Microsoft hasn’t gone as crazy for Black Friday as Sony, but some discounts have recently emerged around the Xbox Series S, which is less powerful than its Xbox Series X counterpart. You can pick up a 512GB Xbox Series S for £269 on Very and Amazon, which is £31 off. The 1TB version, meanwhile, is £20 off at £329.99 on Argos.

If you’re after an Xbox Series X, it is £30 off at £469.99 across Amazon and Argos. The deals on PlayStation 5 consoles are obviously a lot cheaper, so you’re probably better off with one of those, but these are the best deals out there right now on Xbox.

• Xbox Series S 512GB console – £269 (£31 off) at Very
• Xbox Series S 512GB console – £269 (£31 off) at Amazon
• Xbox Series S 1TB console – £329.99 (£20 off) at Argos
• Xbox Series X 1TB console – £469.99 (£30 off) at Amazon
• Xbox Series X 1TB console – £469.99 (£30 off) at Argos

Best Cyber Monday Nintendo Switch 2 deals for 2025

The best deal for the Nintendo Switch 2 is still the Mario Kart World bundle at Costco, which is listed as £429.99 but, after an automatic £50 deduction at the checkout, comes down to £374.99. It’s currently listed as sold out but stock does appear to be coming back every now and then, so we’d keep checking back on the link below.

The next best deal is at Argos, which is selling the Mario Kart World bundle for £399.99 or the console on its own for £385.99. If you’d prefer Pokémon Legends: Z-A, there’s also a bundle there for £405.99, which means the game is only £20.

• Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World – £374.99 (£55 off) at Costco
• Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World – £399.99 (£30 off) at Argos
• Nintendo Switch 2 – £385.99 (£10 off) at Argos
• Nintendo Switch 2 + Pokémon Legends: Z-A – £405.99 (£31.99 off) at Argos
• Nintendo Switch 2 + Donkey Kong Bananza – £409 (£44 off) at Very
• Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World + Donkey Kong Bananza – £439 (£45 off) at Very

Best Cyber Monday PS5, Xbox, and Switch 2 game deals for 2025

As for actual games, some of the best discounts are on PlayStation 5 titles. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is £23 off, despite only being a few months old. Similarly, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is down to £25 and is one of this year’s biggest games.

Likewise, underrated action title Stellar Blade is down to £37, while Astro Bot, one of the best PlayStation 5 exclusives, is a steal at £33.99.

There are less notable discounts on Xbox titles, but you can find some decent savings on Switch 2 games, including Split Fiction and Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut.

• Death Stranding 2: On The Beach on PS5 – £41.99 at Argos (£23 off)
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 on PS5 – £25 at Currys
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PS5 – £29.99 at Amazon (57% off)
• Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 – £9.74 at PlayStation Store
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on PS5 – £29.99 at Argos
• EA Sports FC 26 on PS5 – £37.99 at Amazon (46% off)
• Astro Bot on PS5 – £33.99 at Amazon (32% off)
• Stellar Blade on PS5 – £37 at Amazon (47% off)
• Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut on PS5 – £29.99 at Amazon (57% off)
• Cronos: The New Dawn on PS5 – £34.99 at Amazon (36% off)
• Monster Hunter Wilds on Xbox – £19 at Amazon (71% off)
• Star Wars Outlaws on Xbox – £15.97 at Currys
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A Switch 2 Edition – £44.99 at Amazon (13% off)
• Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition on Switch 2 – £27.85 at Amazon (44% off)
• Sonic X Shadow Generations on Switch 2 – £24.99 at Argos
• Split Fiction on Switch 2 – £28.45 at Amazon (37% off)
• EA Sports FC 26 on Switch 2 – £27.85 at Amazon (20% off)
• Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut on Switch 2 – £29.99 at Argos

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A former animator at Rockstar has released a demo reel showing some new footage from GTA 6, as a faked AI trailer is dismissed by fans.

The feverish anticipation for GTA 6 means it is constantly at risk of alleged leaks, whether genuine or AI-generated mock-ups designed to capitalise on the excitement.

The most famous genuine incident was the 2022 Rockstar hack, where unfinished footage and early screenshots from the game were released online thanks to a teenager with an Amazon Fire Stick.

Over the past week however, there has been a number of ‘leaks’ for the upcoming sequel – set to be released in November next year – but only one of them is real.

What has been leaked from GTA 6?

On Sunday, a demo reel from Benjamin Chue, a former character animator at Rockstar, was picked up on Reddit and contains some footage from GTA 6. The original upload on Vimeo has since been taken down, but other versions have been posted by fans.

The reel features Chue’s animation work across Rockstar titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Max Payne 3, but it’s the first 19 seconds which have caught people’s attention. In the opening of the clip, it shows some very early, actual footage from GTA 6 (as confirmed by a timestamp in the original upload).

Unfortunately, the clip itself is very unexciting – although it does appear to confirm a bike rental system. The first part of the footage shows a man picking up and dropping off a bike at the GTA equivalent of a Lime Bike stand, while the second clip shows a woman hopping from the roof of a pickup truck.

It’s pretty dull, but it appears to be genuine at least. Last week, an X user named Zap Actu posted several ‘leaked’ gameplay clips from GTA 6 on Discord. However, after they went viral on social media, the account admitted they were created by AI.

In an apology post on X clarifying the situation, Zap Actu claimed his intent behind the fake videos was to highlight ‘how easily AI-generated media can be mistaken for real information in today’s digital landscape’.

‘There was no malicious intent, no attempt to damage Rockstar Games, and no financial motivation behind this,’ they added. ‘This account is not monetised and no profit, direct or indirect, was generated from these posts.’

They added: ‘I would also like to reaffirm my respect for Rockstar Games, their work and their intellectual property. Should any of this content be considered inappropriate, I remain fully willing to cooperate and remove it immediately.’

Unfortunately, we still have a long window before the fake leaks will stop altogether, after Rockstar delayed GTA 6 to November 19, 2026.

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The existence of Kirby Air Riders might be baffling to some, but its sales in Japan perfectly justify the game’s existence.

Kirby Air Riders is one of the most divisive Nintendo games in recent memory and while we find its existence bewildering, it’s a very different story in Japan.

As reported by Famitsu, the Kirby racing spin-off has topped the Japanese chart with a massive 195,594 copies sold within its first week. This isn’t as high as Kirby And The Forgotten Land’s debut, which hit 380,060 copies sold back in 2022, but it’s still an impressive number considering it’s a Switch 2 exclusive.

For a comparison, the game in second place, Mario Kart World, achieved 67,068 sales within the same week, which is less than half of what Kirby Air Riders managed. It’s important to note these are only physical sales too, as Nintendo doesn’t report digital figures.

These sales are in stark contrast to the UK retail chart, where Kirby Air Riders didn’t even break the top 10. We’d like to be patriotic and say we have better taste as a nation, but we can’t because EA Sports FC 26 is at the top of the chart here.

Kirby Air Riders debuted at number 12 in the UK, as revealed by Gfk data for the week ending November 22, 2025. That put it behind Astro Bot (in 11th place), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Hogwarts Legacy – all of which have been out for over a year.

There isn’t any sales data yet for the US, but Kirby has always been more popular in Japan than anywhere else. The US sales will likely be far kinder than the UK though, as the games have always still been relatively popular there, thanks to the historical popularity of the NES.

By contrast, and thanks to the belated release of the NES in Europe, the UK has always been one of Nintendo’s weakest international markets.

Kirby isn’t the only Nintendo franchise which has a big gulf in popularity across different corners of the world. Splatoon, similarly, is very popular in Japan, which is why we’ve had two sequels over the past decade – and a spin-off due next year. In the West, however, its sales are far from the likes of Mario, Zelda, or Animal Crossing.

Despite these high sales in Japan for Kirby Air Riders, director Masahiro Sakurai ruled out the idea of a sequel earlier this year. ‘Just so you know, we’re not planning any DLC,’ Sakurai said during a Nintendo Direct last month. ‘Everything is here. Also, I’m not planning on making this an ongoing series.

‘I’ve thrown everything I have into this game from the start. So I hope you don’t miss this opportunity.’

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Leaks have started for the most important night in gaming, with Control 2 and Silent Hill 1 remake amongst the rumoured line-up.

The Game Awards might be pitched as an Oscars style awards ceremony, but the vast majority tune in to catch the big game reveals and trailers.

This year’s event takes place in Los Angeles on December 11 (or very early Friday, December 12 in the UK), with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 going up against the likes of Donkey Kong Bananza and Hollow Knight: Silksong for the big Game Of The Year prize.

While we’re still two weeks away, there’s already rumours (and in one case, confirmation) of what games to expect at the event. To keep all the leaks under control, we’ve directed them into one big bucket below.

What is confirmed for The Game Awards 2025?

At the time of writing, the only confirmed title is sci-fi role-player Exodus. This was originally revealed at The Game Awards in 2023, by none other than Interstellar’s Matthew McConaughey, who voices a character in the game.

While the screenshots look generic, the main reason to be optimistic is the talent involved, with developer Archetype Entertainment run by BioWare veterans James Ohlen, Chad Robertson, and Drew Karpyshyn. A spiritual successor to Mass Effect? We hope so.

What games are rumoured for The Game Awards 2025?

There are several titles rumoured to make an appearance. Based on Ubisoft’s release slate, the Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time remake looks like a shoe-in, since it’s expected to launch in January. Similarly, the rumoured remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is said to be slated for March, so a long overdue announcement could happen at the show.

Based on a recent trademark filing, the sequel to Control could debut as well. As spotted by MP1st, a trademark with the name ‘Control Resonant’ was filed on Thursday (November 27), under the Nordia Attorneys At Law representative associated with Remedy.

It’s unclear if this trademark specifically relates to Control 2, which was announced back in 2022 but still hasn’t been revealed, or some kind of extended universe shenanigans like new DLC, a TV adaptation, or a book. However, considering Control 2 went into full production in February this year, a reveal doesn’t feel out of the question.

Another rumour claims the remake of Silent Hill 1 could get some kind of trailer too. This comes from Peruvian outlet MasGamers, citing a Japanese insider. Details are scarce, so we’d take it with a pinch of salt, and considering developer Bloober Team only announced its existence in June, we doubt it’ll be anything more than a pre-rendered teaser.

A more likely candidate is the announcement of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach on PC. A post on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) outed the existence of a PC port earlier this week, before it was swiftly taken down. The architect behind The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley, is famously pally with Hideo Kojima, and with the original Death Stranding being available on PC, this seems inevitable.

What definitely won’t be at The Game Awards 2025?

The only game which has been ruled out is The Witcher 4. CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski shared a post on X stating so, in response to their nomination for Most Anticipated Game.

‘I’m very happy to see The Witcher 4 nominated in the Most Anticipated Game category at The Game Awards,’ he wrote. ‘Thanks to everyone who has already voted – your support means a lot to us. We won’t be bringing any new content to TGA [The Game Awards] this year, but we’re, as always, excited to watch the show and celebrate this amazing industry’s great night alongside all of you.’

While it hasn’t been explicitly ruled out, reputable insiders have claimed Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, will also not be shown. A trailer for the sci-fi adventure game, starring Tati Gabrielle, debuted at The Game Awards last year.

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Sony’s best PS5 controller has received a huge discount for Black Friday, along with the normal version and the Astro Bot special edition.

The PlayStation 5 might be five years old but it’s still an expensive piece of kit, having increased in price several times during this console generation.

As such, the Black Friday discounts on Sony’s machine have been a lifeline this Christmas, with up to £140 off. While the consoles themselves are pricey enough, the cost only inflates when you factor in additional controllers and other accessories.

Thankfully, there’s also some deals on PlayStation 5 controllers for Black Friday and if you’re a gaming enthusiast, the high-end DualSense Edge controller is cheaper than it’s ever been.

The DualSense Edge controller, which comes with swappable stick caps, replaceable sticks, and other customisation features, is currently £149.99 at Amazon, which is £50 off the usual price. This same deal, which is £20 cheaper than Sony’s discounted price, is available at Argos too.

Along with boasting adjustable triggers, the DualSense Edge comes with a carrying case and the ability to save remapped button configurations within the controller itself.

If you’re after cheap deals on the original DualSense controller, Amazon is offering the lowest price at £42.99, for the Midnight Black, Cosmic Red, White, and Starlight Blue colours. The jazzier Galactic Purple, meanwhile, is 25% off at £44.99 at Argos.

The limited edition controllers for Astro Bot and Ghost of Yōtei are cheaper than ever as well, at £50 on Currys for each one.

There are some notable discounts on other PlayStation 5 accessories. The PlayStation Portal has a widespread price cut of £20 off for Black Friday, but it’s an extra £5 cheaper than that at EE, bringing it down to £175. If you’re after the Pulse Wireless headset, that’s £20 off too.

Best Black Friday deals on PS5 controllers and accessories

• PS5 DualSense Edge controller – £149.99 at Amazon (£50 off)
• PS5 DualSense controller – £42.99 at Amazon (34% off)
• PS5 DualSense controller Galactic Purple – £44.99 at Argos (25% off)
• Astro Bot PS5 DualSense controller – £50 at Currys (£25 off)
• Ghost of Yōtei PS5 DualSense controller – £50 at Currys (£25 off)
• PlayStation Portal remote player – £175 at EE (£24 off)
• PlayStation Pulse Elite wireless headset – £109.49 at Amazon (16% off)

For other Black Friday savings, we have a guide on the best deals across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 games.

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The Black Friday sales for PS5 consoles and games has started, with Sony and others offering the biggest discounts of the year.

After announcing its Black Friday plans earlier this week, Sony’s slate of bargains across PlayStation 5 consoles and games is officially now live.

The main attraction is the discounts across PlayStation 5 hardware, with the digital edition (without a disc drive) being reduced by a massive £135 to £294.99. Considering the console originally launched at £359.99, prior to two price hikes, it’s a big saving.

The standard PlayStation 5 console, with a disc drive, is £90 off at £389.99, similar to prior discounts. Plus, if you’re in the market for the more powerful PS5 Pro, that is £90 off too, at a still-whopping £609.99.

What is the cheapest PS5 console deal?

There are also savings across multiple console bundles. The Fortnite Flowering Chaos edition, complete with exclusive PlayStation cosmetics and 1,000 V-Bucks, is £389.99 and £294.99 for the standard and digital editions respectively.

If you’d prefer the aesthetically pleasing Ghost of Yōtei bundle, which comes with the game via a download code, that is £90 off at £429.99. The 30th anniversary edition console is also £135 off at £334.99, if you have nostalgia for the original PlayStation grey.

While these are all sizeable discounts, you can shave even more off the price by picking up a console at Amazon or Argos. Over on Argos, the digital edition console is an extra £5 off at £289.99, and there’s even a bundle which throws in EA Sports FC 26 for free.

Argos and Amazon have the standard PlayStation 5 console for £379.99, which is an extra £10 off as well. These deals will remain while stocks last, but Sony has listed a final cut off point of December 18, 2025 for the deals.

Best Black Friday 2025 deals for PS5 console

• PlayStation 5 standard – £379.99 (£100 off) at Amazon
• PS5 Pro console – £599.99 (£100 off) at Amazon
• PlayStation 5 standard– £379.99 (£100 off) at Argos
• PlayStation 5 standard with EA Sports FC 26 – £379.99 (£100 off) at Argos
• PlayStation 5 digital edition – £289.99 (£140 off) at Argos
• PlayStation 5 digital edition with EA Sports FC 26 – £289.99 (£140 off) at Argos

Black Friday 2025 Sony deals for PS5 consoles and accessories

• PlayStation 5 standard – £389.99 (£90 off)
• PlayStation 5 digital edition – £294.99 (£135 off)
• PS5 Pro console – £609.99 (£90 off)
• PlayStation 5 Fortnite Flowering Chaos bundle – £389.99 (£90 off)
• PlayStation 5 Fortnite Flowering Chaos bundle digital edition – £294.99 (£135 off)
• PlayStation 5 Ghost of Yōtei bundle – £429.99 (£90 off)
• PlayStation 5 30th Anniversary digital edition – £334.99 (£135 off)
• PlayStation VR2 with Horizon Call Of The Mountain – £309.99 (£90 off)
• PlayStation Portal – £179.99 (£20 off)
• DualSense Wireless Controllers – £44.99 (£20 off)
• DualSense Edge Wireless Controller – £169.99 (£30 off)

Beyond consoles, there is also a massive Black Friday sale on the PlayStation Store across hundreds of games. These include EA Sports FC 26 at 50% off, while Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is 25% off at £52.49.

Some of the best deals are on older PlayStation exclusives. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is 50% off at £34.99, while Astro Bot is at an all-time low price of £42.59. If you’re in the market for the best Xbox title of recent years, Forza Horizon 5 is down to £35.74.

All these offers on games run until December 1, 2025.

Best PS5 game deals in Black Friday 2025 PS Plus sale

• EA Sports FC 26 – £34.99 (50% off)
• Death Stranding 2: On The Beach – £52.49 (25% off)
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows – £41.99 (40% off)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – £35.99 (20% off)
• Silent Hill f – £48.99 (30% off)
• Forza Horizon 5 – £35.74 (35% off)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – £34.99 (50% off)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales Ultimate Edition – £34.99 (50% off)
• Astro Bot – £42.59 (29% off)
• The Outer Worlds 2 – £47.99 (20% off)
• Hogwarts Legacy – £9.74 (85% off)
• Indiana Jones And The Great Circle – £48.99 (30% off)

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A survey has found the majority of children in the US would prefer in-game currency over a new game for Christmas, as skins rule the roost.

While elder generations might associate Christmas with spending hours playing brand new games or consoles, the tide has partially shifted for today’s youth.

With the rise of live service games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, the attention spent on new games has dropped in favour of splashing out on in-game currency, whether for DLC packs, skins, or other cosmetic items.

Accordingly, a new report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), more kids in the US want in-game currency over new games and consoles this Christmas.

Almost three in five children in the US are planning to ask for gaming related presents this Christmas but of the over 700 children surveyed (between the ages of five to 17), 43% are asking for in-game currency.

In comparison, 39% want a games console, while 37% are hoping for physical games under the Christmas tree.

Over 1,100 adults (aged 18 to 65) were surveyed too, with one third of US adults planning to buy game-related items this Christmas, with 35% of their purchases being for their own children.

These results aren’t necessarily surprising and while there is still a high percentage who want new games, it is still a grim reflection of the vice-like grip cosmetics – and games like Fortnite and Roblox – have over younger generations.

It’s especially bleak when you weigh up the value proposition of currency in these games. For example, the average price of a new skin in Fortnite is 1,500 V-Bucks, which equates to £10.50. Call Of Duty and skins from other games can be upwards of £22.

While there’s certainly a joy in running around Fortnite dressed as Ned Flanders or Dustin from Stranger Things, you can pick up Hollow Knight: Silksong – an action game spanning upwards of 25 hours – for £16.75 on Steam. Another indie darling, Ball X Pit, is a mere £12.99.

The price of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the best games of the year, also equates to roughly four Fortnite skins, at £41.99.

While games like Fortnite and Roblox are incredibly popular, the value perception of these currencies may be distorted by how much it costs for a full priced game these days, with Call Of Duty and EA Sports FC 26 going for £70 at launch.

In comparison, it’s perhaps understandable that parents would gravitate toward £20 gift cards for skins, even if they are overpriced for what you’re getting.

So while you might be tempted to pick up an abundance of V-Bucks this Christmas, to keep the younglings quiet, consider what you could be doing for them in the long run, by picking up Donkey Kong Bananza, Split Fiction, or Hades 2 instead.

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The Last Of Us creators’ next game will not launch next year, as several insiders rule out an appearance at The Game Awards.

It’s been almost a year since Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet debuted at The Game Awards, and there’s still no sign of a release window or any clear idea what the game is.

The action adventure, starring Tati Gabrielle, is the first new franchise for developer Naughty Dog since 2013’s The Last Of Us. While we know little about the sci-fi title, all signs point to it being more open than the studio’s previous efforts, with more complex combat.

The lack of release window implied it would be years away and now several insiders have stated as much – ruling out a reappearance at The Game Awards next month.

This all started with an out of context quote from Last Stand Media’s Colin Moriarty, who speculated Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet could be shown at this year’s Game Awards.

This was circulated on social media as an inside scoop, which prompted a response from fellow insider Jeff Grubb. ‘It will not be shown at The Game Awards,’ he wrote on X.

In a follow-up post, Grubb claimed Intergalactic would not launch in 2026 either, which was corroborated by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. ‘Can assure you that Intergalactic is not coming out in 2026,’ Schreier wrote in a Reddit thread.

If Intergalactic isn’t coming out in 2026, it could be a cross-gen title for Sony’s PlayStation 6, which is expected to launch in 2027. Although, with the delay of GTA 6 to November next year, some believe the next gen consoles could be pushed back as a result.

The other big question is what this means for Sony’s 2026 slate. We already know Saros and Marvel’s Wolverine are coming out next year, along with the Sony-published Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, but it’s unclear if there’s room for surprises from God Of War’s Santa Monica Studio or if we’ll see more from the troubled shooter Fairgames.

It remains to be seen if the game will be able to conquer the world quite like The Last Of Us, but the soundtrack should at least be pretty great, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composing the score.

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EA has beaten Monster Hunter Wilds and NBA 2K26 with sales of Battlefield 6, as Pokémon Legends: Z-A comes out on top for physical sales.

We already know Battlefield 6 has been a big hit within the context of the series, having sold over seven million copies worldwide within three days, but it has now soared past even the loftiest of expectations.

According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, EA’s shooter not only topped the US charts for October (from October 5 to November 1), but after just one month, it is now the highest-selling game of the year so far.

This means it has overtaken NBA 2K26 and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds, which topped 10 million sales within one month worldwide, earlier this year. It is also ahead of Borderlands 4, EA Sports College Football 26, and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.

While the real test for Battlefield 6 will be how it fares against the sales of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 this month, there’s already signs that it could actually beat it.

According to Piscatella, Battlefield 6 produced the ‘highest single month US physical and digital full game tracked dollar sales in three years’. (US charts count revenue, not the number of copies sold.)

The last game to generate larger sales within one month was Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in October 2022 so, in other words, it has surpassed the launch sales of recent Call Of Duty titles like Black Ops 6.

It remains to be seen whether Battlefield 6 can maintain this pace, but this means EA is well on its way to being a significant rival to Call Of Duty – far more so than the series ever has been in the past.

Even a month after launch, Battlefield 6 has a steady 24-hour player peak of 215,985 on Steam (via SteamDB), so it’s retaining a sizeable player base too.

2025 Year-to-Date Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T14:01:56.735Z

The biggest question is whether this is a one-off success or something EA will be able to further build on in the years to come.

For example, it’s unclear how well the free battle royale mode, RedSec, is performing, but Twitch viewership suggests it is lagging behind Warzone, with 2.1K viewers versus Warzone’s 6.1K viewers at time of writing – which isn’t a great sign for a new title. (Redsec isn’t tracked separately by Steam so there are no player numbers.)

Regardless of RedSec’s success though, Battlefield 6 is an undisputed triumph. According to Circana, it is already the best-selling game in the series after one month in the US, having already passed the previous record holder, Battlefield 1.

October 2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T14:01:56.734Z

Elsewhere in the US chart, Pokémon Legends: Z-A had a big month too. The sequel, not counting digital sales, ranked second as the best-selling game of October. More notably, it is the best-selling physical game of the year so far, so it also seems to have done better than initially reported.

Ghost of Yōtei, meanwhile, climbed up one place to be the third best-selling game of October. Impressively, it is now the tenth best-selling game of 2025 so far, beating the likes of Elden Ring Nightreign and EA Sports FC 26, despite only being available on PlayStation 5.

On the hardware front, video game spending grew 36% in October when compared to a year ago. This was mostly thanks to the Switch 2, which sold 328,000 units within this period.

According to Piscatella, the console is 68% ahead of the sales pace of the original Switch and 3% ahead of the PlayStation 4’s ‘previous record velocity’.

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