The same company that once taunted Nintendo lawyers has created an alternative to the newly announced Joy-Con 2 controller colours.

We are shocked that peripheral maker dbrand is still going as a company, considering they’ve repeatedly gone out of their way to upset Sony and Nintendo, with their unofficial accessories and antagonistic comments.

From rude messages aimed at Nintendo’s lawyers to PlayStation faceplates that already got them sued once by Sony, they don’t seem to fear other companies at all, and so far they’ve not been given any real reason to.

This time they’re back to annoy Nintendo, who yesterday announced two new colours of Joy-Con for the Switch 2. That’s the first time they’ve been available in anything but the default colours but fans were upset that the colour changes are only minor and barely noticeable when the console is in handheld mode.

The colour scheme is exactly the same as the default Joy-Cons, so it’s hard to understand what anyone expected, but dbrand has gone ahead and announced an alternative that is a different colour for the whole Joy-Con.

Nintendo’s Joy-Con’s aren’t available as a colour pair, but instead a ‘light purple’ left controller and a ‘light green’ right one. There’ll be out on February 12 and cost £74.99, the same as the standard colours.

It all seems a very harmless new option, especially as it’s not any more expensive than the originals, and is no doubt the vanguard of a new range of colours and variants that we’ll begin to see over the coming months and years.

To dbrand though, the whole situation has been like a red rag to a bull and just a day later they’ve announced new controller skins that are the exact same colour but go across the whole Joy-Con.

‘Nintendo decided to release new Switch 2 Joy-Con colorways, but once again opted to only show hints of colour beneath the thumbsticks,’ reads dbrands’ description.

‘Naturally, we’ve painstakingly colour-matched those purple and green accents and applied them to the entire surface of the Joy-Con. As per usual, dbrand does what Nintendon’t.’

The other text on their site is even more weirdly aggressive, mocking potential customers over their weight and potential baldness. You’d think there’d be a better outlet for such anarchic passion but apparently making unofficial console peripherals is their everything.

For what it’s worth, they also have a number of other skins, some of which are actually quite nice, like the fake transparent one.

Differently coloured Joy-Cons are likely to be a prelude to limited edition consoles of various types, which Nintendo generally starts to introduce in the second year of a new console, so don’t be surprised if each new big name game from now on gets one.

What big name games Nintendo has planned for 2026 is a bit of a mystery though, as even those we do know about, like FromSoftware’s The Duskbloods, don’t have a date and are likely prone to delays.

There’s speculation there might be a Nintendo Direct in February, as there was during most of the Switch 1’s lifetime, but so far they’ve not announced anything. Instead, the first showcase of the year will be Xbox’s Developer Direct at the end of January.

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By insisting that it hasn’t been sacking developers for joining a union, Rockstar has inadvertently given clues as to which GTA 6 leaks are real.

It may be the most anticipated title in video game history but there has been precious little information, either official or unofficial, about Grand Theft Auto 6 ever since it was announced.

In the last few months, it’s mostly been in the news over allegations of union-busting at Rockstar Games, where the developer claim they sacked people for leaking secrets and not for trying to unionise.

The issue was serious enough that questions were asked in Parliament, but the very obvious flaw in Rockstar’s argument is that there have been no leaks of any note in the last year or so. Or at least that’s what everyone thought at first…

According to Rockstar, they fired over 30 employees in 2025 for leaking information on GTA 6 in an external channel, whose users included a games journalist and a developer from a rival company.

In a new statement to IGN, Rockstar insists that, ‘we took necessary action against a group of individuals across the UK and Canada who discussed highly confidential information, including relating to game features from upcoming and unannounced titles, in an insecure and public social channel.’

While there’s no way to verify any of Rockstar’s claims (whoever that games journalist is supposed to be, they haven’t spoken up) they also mention a number of other specific incidents, in an attempt to prove that sacking people for leaking information is something they’ve always done.

Rockstar claims that they sacked someone in the US in November 2023 for leaking information, as well as some in Lincoln in April 2025, and an employee in India in November 2025.

“Rockstar has pointed to its well-established zero tolerance approach to leaks, highlighting that it dismissed a Rockstar employee in Lincoln, UK in April 2025, who it alleged disclosed confidential information about GTA 6 to a third party who published the information to social…

— ben (@videotechuk_) January 8, 2026

Based on those specific dates, fans have gone back through internet chatter at the time and tried to work out what that information was – information which is now technically confirmed by Rockstar to be true, or at least true at the time that they fired the employee.

The 2023 firing seems to relate to a leak posted on Reddit, which was largely ignored at the time. You can find the details here but it’s very minor stuff about the story and gameplay mechanics and it’s no wonder little attention was paid to it.

The most substantial piece of new information is that there’s apparently a new mechanic somewhat similar to the dead eye targeting system from Red Dead Redemption 2.

Rockstar is perfectly within their rights to sack people for leaking information but, as ever, you have to question why anyone would risk their job over such trivial details. Especially as most of the leaked information wasn’t widely disseminated.

It’s less clear what the other rumours were but fans have connected one or more to leaks from a source called GameRoll, who revealed the surnames of the main characters before they were officially announced.

Again, you’ve got to wonder why someone felt it was so important to leak that information to the world, but they did reveal a number of other pieces of information.

We’ll leave it up to you as to whether you want to read them, as technically some are spoilers – although none of it is especially mind-blowing and some of it is as simple as ‘driving is best it’s ever been’.

However, the most interesting detail is another mention of a mechanic similar to the dead eye system, with both sources indicating that GTA 6 takes quite a bit of inspiration from Red Dead Redemption 2 in how it plays.

There is no guarantee that these are the leaks that the employees were sacked for but there have been so few over the years that the chances are good.

That said, not all leaks always get noticed. If a leaker doesn’t have much of a following their information can end up being completely ignored, even if it’s true.

The most famous example of this, is footage of a Prince Of Persia reboot, which was leaked onto YouTube in 2012 but which nobody noticed until 2020.

So perhaps there’s also GTA 6 leaks floating around that have been similarly ignored, or dismissed as fakes. Rockstar insists that the truth is out there, but sorting the facts from the fiction is not going to be easy.

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Nintendo had a good year in the UK, but the Switch 2 had a weaker than expected Christmas in the US and Europe, as consumer preferences shift across the world.

Despite last year seeing the launch of a new console, in the form of the Nintendo Switch 2, and PlayStation 5 sales benefiting from less competition from Xbox, last November was the worst on record for hardware sales in the US.

There are a lot of contributing factors to explain that, from rising prices – brought on by everything from tariffs to AI using up all the RAM needed to make new consoles – but the overall picture for the traditional games industry is a grim one.

We already know that Xbox had its worst year ever in the UK, in 2025, and now new figures suggest that, despite being the fastest-selling console ever, Switch 2 sales have now fallen behind that of the Switch 1 during its first Christmas – at least in the US.

The Switch 1 arrived in early March, whereas the Switch 2 came out in June, so this isn’t comparing like with like, but according to The Game Business US sales over November and December were down around 35% compared to 2017, when the Switch launched.

Apart from the release times, the Switch 1 had a very different launch line-up to the Switch 2, whose two best games (Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza) came out in the summer.

Over the course of its first year, the Switch 1 enjoyed a steady stream of critically acclaimed releases, culminating in Super Mario Odyssey as its big Christmas title. By comparison, the biggest Switch 2 first party release before Christmas was the controversial Metroid Prime 4.

It’s important to emphasise that console sales are down across the board in the US, for every format, as that’s where rising prices are hitting hardest, but the picture is more positive elsewhere.

In the UK, Switch 2 sales for the last two months were 16% lower than the Switch 1 during the same period but if you add in Switch 1 purchases then overall Nintendo hardware sales were up 7% compared to 2017. Importantly, Switch 2 sales are overall 6% higher than the Switch 1 in 2017, despite the original hardware having 14 extra weeks.

The UK is traditionally Nintendo’s weakest major international market, while its strongest in Europe is usually France. And yet apparently French Switch 2 sales were more than 30% lower compared to the first year of the Switch 1.

That means the UK sold more Nintendo hardware than France over Christmas, which is highly unusual and a sign that previously accepted norms may no longer be relevant, especially if the US market does not recover.

There are no figures for the rest of Europe but The Games Business’ Chris Dring suggests that they were closer to the French results than those in the UK, with Nintendo supposedly bemoaning the lack of a major Western game launch during the period and a ‘complicated economic landscape’. Which is putting things mildly.

Japan was the only market that performed as expected, even though sales over the last two months were down 5.5% on the Switch 1’s first year. Overall, though, Switch 2 sales were 11% higher than Switch 1 for the year – again, despite the Switch 2 having less time on shop shelves.

As Dring points out, the Switch 2 first year line-up was more attuned to Japanese tastes, especially in terms of titles like the Dynasty Warriors derived Hyrule Warriors and Kirby Air Riders, which sold well in Japan but was a flop in the UK.

How much of that is on purpose, and how much just an accident of the release schedules, is unclear but so far there are no major titles with a confirmed 2026 release date that seem likely to change the narrative, especially in terms of major Western releases.

Some of these issues are out of Nintendo’s control but if the US market continues to disappoint they, and other major publishers, may reassess their output and priorities, especially in favour of newer markets such as China and India.

However, the biggest problem for all console manufacturers at the moment is simply the rising cost of RAM and other components, which may lead to continued increases in console prices or alternatively continued decreases in profit.

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Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment may finally be in the position to make a Fallout: New Vegas remaster or even a sequel, as rumours mount about their current plans.

Although it’s now taken as read that all Xbox games will also be released on PlayStation 5, Microsoft has never clarified that that’s their policy and prominent titles such as Fable are still technically Xbox exclusives.

It’s very probable that Fable will be announced as coming to PlayStation 5 in the Developer Direct this month, but Microsoft has implied that Forza Horizon 6 won’t arrive on Sony’s console until after the Xbox version.

However, that’s likely to be simply because the game wasn’t initially planned to be on PlayStation 5, so it’ll take a bit longer to make that version. That’s what happened with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle and Obsidian’s Avowed… which has now been confirmed to be coming to PlayStation 5 on February 17.

Action role-player Avowed was originally released on Xbox Series X/S and PC on February 18, 2025 but didn’t make much of an impact at the time. We didn’t think much of it but to accompany the PlayStation 5 launch all versions will be getting new content, including a New Game+ mode, new character races, new weapon types, and a photo mode.

Rather than wait for the Developer Direct at the end of the month, the news was announced at the New Game Plus showcase, where Obsidian described the so-called anniversary update as a ‘more rounded experience’ than the original game.

Apart from Grounded 2, which is still in early access, it’s currently unknown what else Obsidian is working on at the moment, and although there’ve been recent rumours of a Fallout: New Vegas remaster, there’s been nothing to suggest Obsidian themselves are making it – although presumably they’ll be involved to some degree.

Windows Central’s Jez Corden has suggested that Obsidian currently has four new projects on the go right now, although he claims not know if any of them are Fallout related.

Assuming one of them is Grounded 2 that still leaves three that are currently unknown (or possibly two, if the PlayStation 5 version of Avowed also counts). Obsidian has talked about wanting to do both a New Vegas remaster and a full sequel but have previously said that they just don’t have the time.

If their schedules have now cleared this would seem the obvious time to get back into the franchise, especially as the ongoing success of the Fallout TV show has not been supported by any new game releases. It’s been over a decade now since Fallout 4 and there seems little hope of a new mainline entry this decade.

What the other games could be is a complete mystery, but Corden suggests that some of the projects are quite small scale. Unlike most Microsoft first party studios, Obsidian has been allowed to experiment with smaller projects, such as Grounded and Pentiment, and while they’re not big sellers they have been critically acclaimed.

It seems very likely that Obsidian is working on at least one new title of a similar scale but with four new projects in development it would be surprising if at least one of them wasn’t a triple-A title.

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A new year of tabletop releases is upon us, with trading card game adaptions of Cyberpunk 2077 and League Of Legends, and more mega evolutions for Pokémon TCG.

2026’s biggest gaming release won’t be GTA 6 but the new Cyberpunk trading card game, well maybe… but CD Projekt is following Riot Games in releasing a card game based on their biggest IP, thereby staking a claim in the lucrative tabletop market.

With this year marking the 30th anniversary year of Pokémon, card culture is shaping up to be the year’s defining scene for tabletop players. And it’s not just Pokémon, trading card fans can look forward to a huge slate of releases from other major properties, including Magic: The Gathering, Yu‑Gi‑Oh!, Lorcana, and more.

I also can’t wait to find out more about the Starcraft miniatures game that is finally bringing Terran, Zerg, and Protoss into physical battles that echo the iconic real-time strategy. That hasn’t been revealed yet, but the following picks are all either out now or imminent, in what is a very promising start for tabletop gaming this year.

Cyberpunk TCG

The new Cyberpunk 2077 card game distils Night City’s chrome-plated chaos into something you can sling across a kitchen table, sharp edges and moral compromises intact. CD Projekt hasn’t revealed much about how the gameplay is going to work, but it will combine elements from both the video game and the Edgerunner animated show.

As such, it’ll feature characters ‘from across the franchise’, with the likes of Panam Palmer, Jackie Welles, and Judy Alvarez already confirmed. Cards such as Kiroshi Optics, Mantis Blades, and Mandibular Upgrade suggest the trading card game is going to feature all the main elements from the video game, no doubt including backstabbing and changing allegiances.

The cards will feature all-new, original artwork and if you want to get the upper hand as an Edgerunner you can sign up now for the exclusive Lucy ‘Nova Rare’ card free, at the game’s official website. The Kickstarter campaign won’t start until later in the year but that still means it’ll be out a lot sooner than the video game sequel.

Release date and RRP: TBA

Battletome: Maggotkin Of Nurgle

The Maggotkin slither into 2026 with a fresh wave of grotesque, irresistible models that push the pestilent hordes to new extremes. The updated Battletome revamps rules, battle traits, and narrative options, giving you both tactical tools and rich-but-disgusting story content. At the forefront of the narrative is Festus the Leechlord, a former plague doctor ascended into daemonhood, mounted on the bloated slug-like horror Gathoblyt, who with tentacles protruding from its belly rains down parasitic leeches and disease across the battlefield.

Cavalry, like the corrupted Sloven Knights, Putrid Blightkings, and savage Pestigors, bring thematic menace while dominating objectives. Infantry units, from swarming Pox-Wretches to elite Rotswords, also add variety to the tabletop, while specialists such as Spoilpox Scriveners and the Regiment of Renown: The Pustules round out the plague army.

Mechanically, the wave leans into attrition and contagion, rewarding careful positioning and strategic patience. These toxic knights drip with textured pustules, worms, and rot, making the Maggotkin a great excuse to get my new metallic paints out.

Release date: 17th January
RRP: £57 for Festus the Leechlord

Pokémon Trading Card Game: Mega Evolution – Ascended Heroes

It’s Pokémon’s 30th birthday this year, so hold on to your hats as The Pokémon Company always likes to make a big fuss about such things. Ascended Heroes is already one of 2026’s most anticipated tabletop releases, as the expansion reframes mega evolution, not as a gimmick, but as a moment of transformation that can tilt an entire match.

The new cards revolve around Ascended Heroes pokémon, with mechanics that reward timing and restraint as much as raw force. Mega Evolution now feels earned rather than automatic, demanding set-up, sacrifice, and nerve. The extremely sought after Mega Dragonite ex (mega hyper rare) card, in all its golden glory, heralds an accessible but sharper-edged upgrade from earlier sets, nudging competitive play without abandoning the joy of Pokémon.

Collectors will all be hoping to pull special illustration rares (SIRs) but they will be as hard to get hold of as a ticket to the Pokémon pop-up at London’s Natural History Museum. With the 30th birthday celebrations and Pokémon European International Championship just around the corner, this is going to be one of the biggest years ever for the franchise.

Release Date: 30th January
RRP: £54.99 for elite trainer box

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The team-up between Magic: The Gathering and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is shaping up to be one of 2026’s most nostalgic and fun tabletop releases, pulling the heroes in a half-shell straight out of the sewer and into Magic’s multicoloured chaos. This isn’t a novelty crossover, it’s a full-scale Magic: The Gathering release, designed to sit comfortably alongside core sets and Commander staples.

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael arrive as legendary creatures, each reflecting their personalities through colour identity and playstyle, while villains like Shredder and Krang bring high-threat build-arounds.

Expect mechanics that riff on teamwork, ambush tactics, and mutation, with playful twists that still respect Magic’s fundamentals. Universes Beyond has already expanded Magic’s audience and this looks set to do it again. Can we have Masters of the Universe next?

Release Date: 6th March
RRP: £64.99

Marvel: Crisis Protocol Adam Warlock, Moondragon, Quasar Character Pack

With Avengers: Doomsday set to hit cinemas this year, you can play out your own superhero battles in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, with the new Adam Warlock (as seen in the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie), Moondragon, and Quasar (Phyla-Vell from Marvel Cosmic Invasion) figures.

This character pack is less about raw damage and more about control, tempo, and the unseen forces shaping the board. Adam Warlock plays as a balancing presence, rewarding careful sequencing and punishing with his new bonded soul gem. His abilities lean into survivability and counterplay, making him feel like a living pause button in the middle of battle.

Moondragon, by contrast, is sharp and invasive. Her psychic toolkit disrupts enemy plans, bending activations and forcing opponents into awkward decisions they didn’t plan to make. Quasar rounds out the trio with kinetic energy manipulation, excelling at zone control and sudden repositioning that can flip objectives late in a round.

Together, they form a set that asks players to think laterally. Positioning matters, timing matters more, and mistakes are quietly amplified. These new miniatures reflect that tone: elegant, cosmic and restrained. This is Crisis Protocol at its most cerebral, proving the game’s future isn’t just louder battles but smarter ones.

Release Date: 13th February
RRP £59.99

Dobble Spider-Man

The frantic, eye-straining, name-shouting joy of Dobble swings into the Marvel multiverse, as the competitive card slammer launches a new Spider-Man themed variant. This family friendly edition keeps the rules simple, while coating every card in bold, web-splashed iconography, pulled from across Spider-Man’s many lives. It’s immediate, accessible, and extremely fast-paced.

Instead of abstract symbols, players race to spot matching images of masks, gadgets, and villains, from classic Peter Parker to Miles Morales and beyond. The character chaos isn’t just cosmetic; it adds narrative throwdown, turning each split-second win into a tiny comic book beat. Games may be over in minutes, but the energy is as loud as my love for Spider-Ham.

Release Date: 9th January
RRP: £16.99

Disney Lorcana Set 11: Winterspell

Winterspell wraps the Disney trading card game’s luminous fantasy in frost, shadow, and slow-building tension. Preceding the opening of World of Frozen at Disneyland Paris, it leans into seasonal magic where patience, control, and perfectly timed reveals matter more than brute force. Plus, who doesn’t love Stitch on a snowboard!

The new set introduces new ice mechanics that reward stalling, delayed payoffs, and subtle manipulation, while deepening the complex narrative of the Illumineers. Characters linger on the inkwell, freeze rivals in place, or quietly gain strength over time, shifting matches into slower, more deliberate rhythms, in fitting locations such as Graveyard of Christmas Future – Lonely Resting Place.

This deepens the strategy without sacrificing accessibility, letting newcomers find their footing while experienced players explore sharper interactions, all while letting you play Scrooge McDuck straight out of a Christmas Carol.

The accompanying Illumineer’s Trove set is packed with boosters, storage, and premium accessories, as crystalline cards recast familiar Disney characters as mythic, winter-bound figures. Winterspell delivers a perfect winter atmosphere and sets up Lorcana for another big year.

Release Date: 20th February
RRP: £49.99

Alien: The Roleplaying Game – Evolved Edition

Arriving late last year, following the Alien Earth TV show, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some new alien miniatures for my tabletop. The Evolved Edition takes what was already one of the most immersive sci-fi horror systems around and refines it into a lean, intense starter experience perfect for both terrified newbies and hardened role-playing veterans (COUGH unlike the TV series).

Inside the box you get streamlined Evolved Edition rules, an expanded Hope’s Last Day scenario, five ready-made characters, and maps that evoke claustrophobic corridors and alien wilderness – as well as custom dice, initiative and gear cards, tokens, and even a little alien miniature to stalk your crew around the table.

It’s designed to drop you straight into the tension, dread, and drama without needing an encyclopaedia of rulebooks or adult children to take care of. Equal parts cinematic dread and tactical play, it’s the kind of game that actually does justice to the series.

Out Now from around £35

Riftbound: League Of Legends – Spiritforged Champion Deck

One of the best new trading card games of 2025 gets its first expansion (which is already out in China), with a promise of high stakes adventure and deep strategic tension. Spiritforged pushes players to master timing, positioning, and resource management, with a new Gear card subtype that you can attach to your units.

Mechanically, the set introduces a new Dauntless Vanguard card that can be played onto an occupied enemy battlefield, forcing players to adapt rather than rely on static strategies. Spiritforged enemies have layered abilities that punish overextension and reward teamwork, while new hero archetypes allow for experimentation with hybrid classes and combination tactics.

Heeding calls for more original art, this second set of Spiritforged dazzles with great looking cards of luminous, fractured landscapes and characters like Irelia, Blade Dancer. For fans of League Of Legends, as well as anyone who likes card games with tactical depth and immersive storytelling, this expansion transforms Riftbound into something sharper, darker, and beautifully unforgiving.

Release Date: February 2026
RRP: £18-£20 for decks

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rarity Collection 5

Konami’s new rarity collection arrives with the kind of quiet confidence that suggests it already knows it will sell out immediately. And these cards deserve to, they are stunning! Designed as much for collectors as competitive duellists, the new designs lean into spectacle, wrapping familiar power cards in wall-to-wall foil and presenting every booster as a small event. The headline addition is the debut of extended art cards, with 10 iconic picks given edge-to-edge illustrations that spill beyond traditional frames and invite a second look.

Cards like Wake Up Your Elemental HERO, Shooting Quasar Dragon, Kurikara Divincarnate, and Dominus Purge feel less like reprints and more like gallery pieces, reframing nostalgia through modern design. There’s a sense here, of Yu-Gi-Oh! acknowledging its own history while reframing it for a new era.

For long-time fans and newcomers alike, Rarity Collection 5 doesn’t reinvent the game. Instead, it polishes and upgrades the look of it, reminding you that opening a booster can still feel like magic… and I’m under its spell.

Release Date: 9th April
RRP £6.99 per booster

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Guitar Hero may be be dead but a new studio, founded by some of the original creators, is launching a lookalike game this year.

Back when Xbox was first courting Activision Blizzard, it was clearly implied that the acquisition would lead to the revival of the Guitar Hero series, which has been seemingly dead since 2015.

So far, nothing of the sort has come out of the arrangement. If anything, Epic Games has done more to revive the concept by enlisting Guitar Hero’s original developer Harmonix to make Fortnite Festival, a rhythm action game that’s compatible with the same plastic guitar peripherals that used to clutter peoples’ living rooms.

Now, another Guitar Hero clone has been announced, alongside a brand new guitar controller – one that’s also being created by veterans of the series.

Named simply the Sound System, the game is in development at a new studio called Echo Foundry Interactive, which was founded by Marcus Henderson and Lennon Lange.

Henderson is a musician who served as the lead guitarist on the Guitar Hero games, while Lange worked as a producer on not just that series but related spin-offs like Band Hero and DJ Hero.

The game’s already scheduled to launch on PC via Steam this summer, with plans for PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch versions as well.

One look at the trailer and it’s very apparent it’s just Guitar Hero again (not that that’s a bad thing), with a promise of a curated setlist of songs, frequent content updates, and the ability to create and share your own music.

The announcement coincides with a new guitar peripheral called the InfinaKore Telecaster Edition Guitar Controller, from hardware company Drakong, which will be compatible with both Sound System and Fortnite Festival.

However, the Sound System trailer also mentions ‘classic peripherals,’ which hopefully means that some of your old Guitar Hero controllers will work just fine and you won’t need to go and buy a new one.

The likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band popularised bespoke controllers shaped like instruments, which were extremely popular in the late 2000s, before Activision oversaturated the market.

The concept fell out of favour in the 2010s, alongside rhythm action games in general, and there’s never really been a comeback since then.

There’s clearly still a market for it though, if other companies are making such peripherals, even if it’s hard to imagine it once again becoming a mass market phenomenon.

Although Guitar Hero, and successor Rock Band, are now dead franchises Ubisoft’s Rocksmith is still going. Although that’s more of a teching tool than a normal game, not least because it uses a real electric guitar.

It was eventually succeeded by a subscription service called Rocksmith+ in 2022. Surprisingly, that’s still going and seeing updates, having since added piano and keyboard learning.

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The first major games showcase of the year comes from Xbox and as well as Fable and Forza Horizon 6 it’s said to feature a secret new game reveal.

It should come as no surprise that Xbox is airing a new Developer Direct showcase this month. It’s been an annual occasion since 2023 and Microsoft confirmed one was coming last month – even if they never said exactly when.

However, they did promise that that Fable and Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games would be featured and that, because Xbox has so many games planned for 2026, it can’t fit them all into one show.

Despite that claim, this year’s showcase is looking awfully thin. But while only three games have been officially announced, rumours suggest there is actually a secret fourth game as well.

When is the January 2026 Xbox Developer Direct?

As confirmed by an Xbox Wire blog post, the Developer Direct is scheduled for Thursday, January 22 at 6pm GMT.

Most of it will be spent on updates from British developer Playground Games, which means in-depth looks at both Fable (which was meant to launch last year but was delayed to 2026) and Forza Horizon 6.

While this will be the first proper gameplay debut for Forza Horizon 6, Fable’s past trailers did offer glimpses of its combat, but there’s never been any extended gameplay demonstrations.

Detailed information about Fable in general has been incredibly vague ever since its 2020 announcement. There have been rumours of it drawing influence from CD Projekt’s The Witcher series of action role-players for its combat, but that’s never been substantiated.

The only other game that will be shown is Beast Of Reincarnation, another action role-player that was announced at last year’s Xbox summer showcase and comes from Pokémon developer Game Freak.

Forza Horizon 6 and Beast Of Reincarnation are both slated for PlayStation 5 releases, although the former may come out on Xbox first. Fable has never been confirmed as a multiformat title, but given Microsoft’s current policies it seems impossible that it won’t be.

Perhaps Microsoft has a secret announcement planned for the showcase, but nothing in the blog post hints at there being more than just these three games – and Xbox has rarely been able to keep a secret.

It’s possible Microsoft is saving the bigger reveals for a summer showcase. Not only is there a Halo 1 remake out this year (one that will also launch for PlayStation 5), but we’re also supposed to be getting Gears Of War prequel E-Day as welll.

2026 also marks not only the 25th anniversary of the Xbox brand, but the 40th anniversary of Bethesda as well.

Recently, it was suggested that a new Wolfenstein could be announced as part of the celebrations, as well as possibly a new Quake, but it seems neither will feature in the Developer Direct.

Update: Two separate sources have claimed that there is actually a secret fourth game due to be shown, described by VGC as a ‘smaller scale original game from one of Xbox Game Studios’ first party developers.’

The first to mention a fourth game was respected insider shinobi602 on ResetEra, although he admitted it was not a title he was excited about and refused to provide any more information.

That’s not much to go on but The Outer Worlds 2 developer Obsidian is said to be working on at least two unannounced titles, some of which are believed to be more indie like projects, similar to Pentiment.

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Get the latest video game release date information for 2026 in our detailed schedule for upcoming titles, starting this week with Pathologic 3.

As usual for the start of the year, we don’t know too much about video game release dates beyond the next few months, but there are some that have already staked out a specific launch time, including 007 First Light, PlayStation 5 exclusive Saros, and Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight.

Of course, the biggest game of the year is set to be Grand Theft Auto 6, although that’s assuming it sticks to its current release date, which is by no means guaranteed.

We’ll update this list of upcoming titles every week, usually on Thursday, and you’ll find it’ll quickly begin to fill out with new releases, especially once Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have their first preview showcases of the year.

Friday 9 January 2026

Pathologic 3 (PC)

Saturday 10 January 2026

Code Violet (PS5)

Monday 12 January 2026

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check (PC)
Big Hops (NS/PS5/PC)

Wednesday 14 January 2026

Cassette Boy (PS4/XO/NS/PS5/XSX/PC)
Streetdog BMX (PC)

Thursday 15 January 2026

The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Beyond The Horizon (PS4/NS/PS5/NS2/PC)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (NS2)

Friday 16 January 2026

BrokenLore: Unfollow (PS5/PC)

Tuesday 20 January 2026

2XKO (XSX/PS5/PC)
MIO: Memories In Orbit (NS/PS5/XSX/PC)

Thursday 22 January 2026

Sega Football Club Champions (PS4/PS5/PC/iOS/Android)
Hermit And Pig (PC)
Arknights: Endfield (PS5/PC/iOS/Android)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade (XSX/NS2)
Dynasty Warriors: Origins (NS2)

Friday 23 January 2026

Escape from Ever After (PS4/XO/NS/PS5/XSX/PC)
Banquet For Fools (PC)

Monday 26 January 2026

Highguard (PS5/XSX/PC)

Tuesday 27 January 2026

Speedball (PS5/XSX/PC)

Wednesday 28 January 2026

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin (PS5/PC/iOS/Android)

Thursday 29 January 2026

I Hate This Place (NS/PS5/XSX/PC)
Cairn (PS5/PC)
Dark Auction (NS/PS5/PC)
Dusk Index: Gion (NS/PS5/XSX/PC)
Dispatch (NS/NS2)

Friday 30 January 2026

Code Vein 2 (XSX/PS5/PC)
The 9th Charnel (PS5/XSX/PC)

Tuesday 3 February 2026

Aces Of Thunder (PS5/PC)
Unemployment Simulator 2018 (PC)

Thursday 5 February 2026

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined (NS/XSX/PS5/NS2/PC)
Deus Ex Remastered (NS/XSX/PS5/PC)

Friday 6 February 2026

Nioh 3 (PS5/PC)
My Hero Academia: All’s Justice (PS5/XSX/PC)
Ghost Gunners (PC)

Tuesday 10 February 2026

Mewgenics (PC)

Wednesday 11 February 2026

Romeo Is A Dead Man (XSX/PS5/PC)

Thursday 12 February 2026

Mario Tennis Fever (NS2)
Ride 6 (PS5/XSX/PC)
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X (PS5)
Disciples: Domination (PS5/XSX/PC)
ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard (PS5/XSX/NS2/PC)
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties (PS5/XSX/NS2/PC)

Friday 13 February 2026

High On Life 2 (PS5/XSX/PC)
Reanimal (XSX/PS5/NS2/PC)
Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azume (PS5/XSX)

Other video game release dates 2026:

27 February – Resident Evil Requiem (XSX/PS5/NS2/PC)
27 March – 007 First Light (XSX/PS5/NS2/PC)
24 April – Pragmata (XSX/PS5/NS2/PC)
30 April – Saros (PS5)
29 May – Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight (XSX/PS5/PC)
9 September – Phantom Blade 0 (PS5/PC)
19 November – Grand Theft Auto 6 (XSX/PS5)

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Despite the last game being a sales flop for Square Enix, another Life Is Strange is apparently not only in the works but out this year.

When developer Deck Nine took over Life Is Strange from original creator Don’t Nod, it seemed the series was in safe hands, given the critically acclaimedBefore The Storm prequel and Life Is Strange: True Colors.

Unfortunately, after 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, it was hard to feel optimistic about the future of both the series and the studio. Not only was the game a messy disappointment, it was also a financial flop for Square Enix.

At that point it wouldn’t have been surprising if Square Enix put the series on ice, and they certainly haven’t announced anything since, but there’s suddenly clear evidence that a new game is coming and will be out surprisingly soon.

Recently, a new listing on the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) website, which provides age ratings for all games released in Europe, was spotted for something called Life Is Strange: Reunion.

It was listed only as a PlayStation 5 release, with a release date of March 27, 2025 – which obviously can’t be accurate.

Even more interesting, is that it includes a story synopsis; one that not only mentions Max Caulfield (the protagonist of the first game and Double Exposure) but her best friend and love interest Chloe Price.

‘Chloe Price was Max Caulfield’s partner in time… Losing her is Max’s greatest regret. Now Chloe has come to Caledon University,’ it reads (Caledon University being the setting of Double Exposure).

‘Haunted by nightmares and impossible memories, Chloe needs Max’s help. But Max is already in crisis: in three days, a deadly inferno will destroy the campus.’

The listing has since been removed (no doubt because it was published early and contains an incorrect release date), but not before VGC managed to grab a screenshot for posterity. The same thing happened with the still unannounced Assassin’s Creed 4 remake, which popped up on the PEGI website last month.

Age rating boards across the word regularly leak video game information before they’re supposed to and what’s useful about that is that not only do they have no reason to lie but a game has to be fairly close to release in order for them to give it a rating.

What seems almost certain to have happened in this case is that the game’s release date is March 27, 2026. But the doofus who was entering the information got the year wrong – a common enough mistake at this time of year.

The more perplexing element of the leak is that Square Enix has never hinted at any such game and it’s very odd to be planning to launch it so soon, without any pre-publicity. Even if the March date is wrong, a release any time this year seems surprising if the game hasn’t even been annouced yet.

If the product description is accurate, and it would be bizarre if somewhere like PEGI just made it up, the concept feels like a direct response to one of the most notable criticisms Double Exposure received: the lack of Chloe. Both the character and her relationship with Max (which can turn romantic depending on player choices) are beloved by fans and one of the highlights of the first game.

Since that story ends with you needing to choose whether to sacrifice Chloe to save the town of Arcadia Bay or vice versa, Double Exposure omits Chloe entirely. Depending on your choice, she’s either dead or alive but no longer in contact with Max.

Bringing Max back without Chloe did not go down well with fans, especially as there’s a comic book sequel all about their relationship in the ‘save Chloe’ timeline.

Double Exposure’s ending did tease a sequel, complete with a James Bond-esque ‘Max Caulfield will return.’ But considering Double Exposure was less than two years ago, it seems too soon for a sequel to release.

However, last year, there were rumours and speculation that Deck Nine had been contracted by Square Enix to release two Life Is Strange games, with an ex-employee of Deck Nine alleging that the Double Exposure sequel was aiming for a 2026 launch, suggesting both projects were in development simultaneously.

They also added that Deck Nine was ‘laying off every department one at a time after they finish their last work.’ When combined with Double Exposure’s financial failure, none of this bodes well for both the studio and Life Is Strange itself.

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More sources have corroborated the rumoured new Witcher 3 DLC, with new leaks suggesting it will feature an entirely new region.

There’s been chatter of The Witcher 3 receiving a new DLC expansion as long ago as last June, but talk has recently ratcheted up thanks to comments made last month by Polish analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski.

On one hand, it’d be weird for The Witcher 3, or indeed any game, to see new DLC almost a decade after the last expansion, but it’s supposedly meant to serve as a bridge that leads into The Witcher 4, which is expected to launch as early as 2027.

The initial rumours made it sound like this DLC will be smaller in scale than the previous expansions, but a new leak suggests otherwise, claiming that the new content will include an entirely new region not seen in the original game.

This is according to IGN Poland, which says it has known about the DLC for a long time, thanks to a tip from a reliable insider. However, it chose not to report on the rumour since it was still only one source.

In the wake of Chrzanowski’s claims, though, IGN Poland has opted to share what it has heard about the DLC, stating that CD Projekt was interested in exploring the desert region of Zerrikania.

IGN Poland adds that there are enough references to Zerrikania in The Witcher 3 to hint that Geralt’s journey could take him there, but it also admits that’s been years since it heard this info, so plans could very well have changed.

It’s certainly possible, since The Witcher 4 is already confirmed to feature the Kovir region, which has snow-topped mountains and is a far cry from a desert.

That said, in a 2024 Easy Allies interview, CD Projekt did say The Witcher 4 will feature multiple regions, suggesting Kovir won’t be the only location you’ll explore in the game.

Whatever the case, it sounds like the DLC will be meatier than first thought. Polish website PPE has also corroborated its existence, saying it was told The Witcher 3 is getting a major content update. However, it hadn’t heard anything about it involving Zerrikania.

As for why this DLC is being made to begin with, Chrzanowski has said it’s essentially so CD Projekt’s upper management can net themselves an extra bonus.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Chrzanowski mentioned an ‘incentive programme’ that grants key employees additional shares so long as certain financial targets are met. And currently, the programme is 700 million złoty short (about £144 million).

‘700 million złoty is needed to meet the first threshold, with only five quarters remaining,’ explained Chrzanowski. ‘This implies the need for something significantly larger than just another update or a version for a niche platform.’

This only lends further credence to the DLC being far more substantial than a free update, which obviously wouldn’t push the needle any further or help the higher-ups make some extra money.

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Rockstar’s long-awaited sequel is still not content complete, with the developers of GTA 6 apparently unsure about whether it’ll be out this year or not.

After two major delays the obvious problem with GTA 6’s new release date, of November 19, is that there’s no guarantee it’ll keep that, anymore than it did the others.

Rockstar games do usually have at least two delays, so you’d hope they’ve filled their quota by now, but according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier the game is not yet content complete. That means that Rockstar still hasn’t finalised everything that is due to go into the game, implying they also haven’t started the polishing phase of development.

A game the size and complexity of GTA 6 would need around a year of polishing, just as Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom did, and if it’s not started that process yet then that means another delay becomes a real possibility.

Schreier, who is widely considered the most reliable insider in gaming, was speaking as part of the Button Mash podcast on Spotify, when the discussion turned to GTA 6.

‘This is how Rockstar works,’ he said, in relation to Red Dead Redemption 2 and its multiple delays.

‘I wouldn’t be super shocked if that is what happens again. This time around, this is a big and complicated game and the last I heard it was still not content complete. That is to say that people were still finishing things up, still finalising levels and missions, and seeing what is going to make it into the game.’

For a game of GTA 6’s size, that does not sound like the sort of state you’d expect it to be in less than a year out from release.

As Schrier points out, every game is different, but generally content complete is a specific stage in development, that comes before final fixing and polishing, even though small additions and changes to the design can be made after that.

‘I don’t think anyone at Rockstar can tell you, with 100% certainty, that they will make it out in November,’ said Schrier.

According to him, the current November date does feel ‘a little more solid’ than the previous ones but he also points out that if the game were delayed until 2027, as long as it came out before the end of Take-Two’s financial year, on March 31, it wouldn’t cause any major financial problems.

This is one situation where no rumour can be 100% accurate, simply because Rockstar, and owners Take-Two, don’t know themselves whether the game is going to make it.

Given their previous conduct, they’re unlikely to give any hint either, until the last minute, although if it starts to get close to November and there’s still no sign of a new trailer or any other details then there’s every reason to worry.

From Rockstar’s point of view, it doesn’t matter when the game launches, as it will sell just as well at any time of year. According to Schrier, what’s more important to them is that the game lives up to expectations, although the longer it take to arrive the more unreasonable those expectations become…

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MachineGames is rumoured to be working on two new games, including a Rainbow Six Siege style multiplayer title.

Way back in 2018, Bethesda’s then vice president of PR and marketing, Pete Hines, all but confirmed that a Wolfenstein 3 would happen, despite 2017’s Wolfenstein 2 not performing as well as hoped – in large part because of an unwisely chosen Christmas release date.

We did get the Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot spin-offs in 2019 but they weren’t big hits either and since then Hines has left the company, Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft, and series developer MachineGames has been occupied with the Quake remasters and its Indiana Jones game.

However, it seems Wolfenstein 3 could finally see a formal announcement later this year, with new rumours alleging that the game is in development; something that was previously hinted at by various job listings.

In a recent report about Xbox’s plans for 2026, Windows Central claimed that MachineGames is currently working on both Wolfenstein 3 and a separate multiplayer project, something in the vein of Rainbow Six Siege.

The existence of Wolfenstein 3 was later verified by Kotaku, although there were no further details. Apparently, the plan is for it to coincide with the Wolfenstein TV show that’s in the works at Amazon, which makes sense since the Fallout games saw a massive boost in popularity thanks to the success of Amazon’s Fallout show.

What is Wolfenstein?

The original Wolfenstein 3D, from 1992, was the first widely successful first person shooter and paved the way for Doom, also from id Software. It received various sequels and reboots over the years but the last two games, from MachineGames, were set in an alternate history where the Nazis won the Second World War.

Although they’re technically reboots you still control protagonist B. J. Blazkowicz, as you join a resistance movement in the US. While purposefully absurd at times, the series’ refreshingly blunt social commentary has only become more relevant over time.

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine a TV show that would be anywhere near as forthright (or purposefully weird) and even a new game is likely to cause considerable controversy – which is perhaps what Bethesda, and ultimately Microsoft, is banking on.

MachineGames has kept up its tradition of fighting Nazis with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, but Wolfenstein makes a point of dissecting how monstrous their ideology is and has you deal with them far more violently than Indy does. So, it will be interesting to see how such an aggressively anti-Nazi game fares in the current political climate.

Curiously, the rumours make no mention of anything Quake related. After contributing new expansions to the remasters, there have been clear signs MachineGames is working on a new entry in the series.

Old job listings from 2021 specifically mentioned multiplayer and a teaser for Indiana Jones had a clear reference to Quake. So it certainly seems that, up until quite recently, the plan was to make a Quake reboot. Perhaps those plans have been cancelled though or the Rainbow Six-esque game is secretly Quake related.

Alternatively, the same Windows Central report suggests that id Software could return to make a new Quake game. After last year’s Doom: The Dark Ages it’s not clear what they’re working on now but whatever it is, it’s likely to be a way off.

Whatever the case, there’s a very good chance MachineGames’ next project will be announced this year, since 2026 marks Bethesda’s 40th anniversary. No doubt the company will want to have at least one big reveal for that occasion.

As for when such a reveal could be made, there is an Xbox showcase taking place this month, though an exact date hasn’t been specified. There’s also QuakeCon, Bethesda’s own annual event, in August.

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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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Surviving the apocalypse has never been so relaxing as in this excellent mix of survival game and city builder, set on a waterlogged future Earth.

The post-apocalypse is a famously popular setting for video games. From Fallout’s survivalist role-players to the harrowing events of The Last Of Us, game makers have long been drawn to the idea of a world reset, primed for reimagining. And, naturally, such games tend to be rather gloomy affairs.

Not so Flotsam, which might be gaming’s most cheerful take on life after the end of everything. Finally released as a full game, following years in early access, Flotsam is set in a world almost entirely flooded, where a handful of small islands and building tops make up the remaining landscape. The population appears reduced to almost nothing, and there is next to nowhere left to grow food.

And yet developer Pajama Llama Games’ creation welcomes you to a place of glorious weather, rolling blue seas, oceanic beauty, and an optimistic effort to build a community and thrive.

The heart of the game is your new home: a plucky, pootling boat that you constantly expand with walkways, pontoons, and floating structures, until you find yourself piloting a vast, self-sufficient floating village. Everything you use to build that undersized empire will have to be pulled from the waves or constructed onboard. Which brings us to Flotsam’s other half, where you explore a vast map, scavenging for supplies and welcoming new survivors to your community.

When it comes to the fundamentals of building out a prosperous settlement with a functioning and balanced ecosystem, things are broadly comparable to the likes of classics such as SimCity; although in the case of Flotsam the focus is on the finer details of producing food, building housing, and workshops, purifying water, and keeping your residents happy and healthy.

So, where SimCity might have asked you to place an entire industrial region in a single click, in Flotsam the level of detail demands you have the correct ingredients for meals, enough wood dried and shaped to build your next extension, and all manner of other considerations.

That might make things sound like rather too much of a mundane chore list, but so brilliantly balanced are Flotsam’s systems that the game is deeply captivating and rewarding. Constantly working to keep going has never felt quite so wonderful. There’s an intimacy to the detail that really connects you with your floating home, making you really care about its survival.

Flotsam is a very hard game to put down, because there’s always a few more things you can do to improve your settlement. And with those tasks completed you’ll open up yet more ways to make your home a little more efficient, beautiful, or capable.

The game’s core loop sees you hopping back and forth between the map screen – where you’ll direct your boat to points of interest – and the zoomed in world screen where you scoop up resources, scavenge islands for everything from food to metal scraps, set your inhabitants to work, and maintain and expand your boat.

After that, you can hop back to the map and let everyone carry on as you navigate. Early on, you’ll focus on gathering plastic and wood from the sea, to build the likes of storage areas and your first homes and workshops. Initially the workshops let you dry salt water-drenched driftwood, cut planks to shape, and form plastic into simple building materials. In the opening hour you might also craft a water purifying tower or expand a network of jetty-like pathways that let your residents – known as drifters – get about their work.

In time, you’ll even construct your own humming power network, schools, areas for rest and recreation, seaweed farms, smaller fishing and scavenging boats, and specialised workshops that create food, rope, firewood, and much else besides – all of which will have to work in balanced harmony.

That harmony is yours to orchestrate. The Pajama Llama team’s greatest achievement, in the case of Flotsam, is making that effort a wonderfully relaxing, gentle, interesting experience, without watering down the wider genre’s complexity and nuance.

Nevertheless, Flotsam could do with having its tutorial integrated into the game’s opening, rather than existing as a separate entity. The opening chapter of the Flotsam experience does give you nudges in the right direction, but you might find yourself momentarily bewildered by an inability to source a certain material or reaching for your phone to search how a system works (and fortunately, there is plenty of information online, thanks to the game’s years in early access).

You’ll soon feel entirely in control though, a master of your floating future. Because the systems in Flotsam make such plain sense, and because of that close-up level of detail where you can see seaweed fluttering in the wind on racks and dried wood being carried to the sawmill. Despite its imperfect onboarding, Flotsam is the ideal game if you’ve always wanted to crack the city building genre, but never really found your gateway.

If you’re a genre obsessive, things might feel a little familiar in terms of the process of building out that bustling ecosystem. And yet the addition of the exploration and survival element should give you a taste of something distinct. And whatever kind of player you are, you may well long for more elaborate quests and missions, or maybe in-narrative events that drastically shift the dynamic of strategies you deploy. Still, even without those things, there are many, many hours of pleasure to be found in the waters of Flotsam.

The process of scooping up new survivors and integrating them into your community is always delightful, too. Rather than fuss over the fate of a city of millions, in Flotsam new recruits never arrive in crowds. Many hours in, you might still be able to count your populace on two hands – or maybe three. Again, Flotsam has a marvellous sense of knowing the world you build at an individual level, right down to the names of each resident.

The overall result is one of the most rewarding and charming city builders of recent times. The emphasis is almost always on progress, success, and community, and while you do have to knuckle down to the serious business of keeping Drifters fed, watered, and content, rarely is Flotsam a game about struggle or failure.

It wants you to do well, and that is a pleasure to experience. Even if you do squeeze yourself into a resource bottleneck, where your stores are full and you don’t have what you need to build a way forward, the solutions are always straightforward and typically immediate. Flotsam doesn’t patronise or keep things too easy; rather, it makes facing its challenges a joy.

And when that joy plays out over a blue and pleasant land, where people are collaborative and kind, it makes Flotsam a very nice place to escape to, even if a global disaster has struck. It is still a post-apocalyptic world, where survival dominates your every thought, but saving the future of humanity has rarely been so playful. And play is what video games are meant to do well.

Format: PC
Price: £19.99
Publisher: Stray Fawn Publishing
Developer: Pajama Llama Games
Release Date: 4th December 2025
Age Rating: N/A

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Any studio looking to release a new live service game in 2026 needs to take a long hard look at what the most played games in the US were last year.

The start of a new year should instil everyone with a sense of anticipation and the thought of new possibilities. But for the games industry at least, the last few years have brought more worries than excitement.

As we laid out in our end of year review, 2025 belonged to indie studios, thanks to successes like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong. And in an ideal world, larger publishers would learn a thing or two from these smaller developers.

At the very least, it’d be nice to see publishers stop pinning all their hopes on live service games and becoming the next Fortnite, because it’s simply not going to happen. If you need further evidence of that, just take a look at what most people in the US were playing last year.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella took to Bluesky to share the top five most played video games in the US, on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles, according to a survey of ‘active’ gamers.

On PlayStation, the top five were Fortnite, Call Of Duty, GTA 5, Minecraft, and Roblox. And on Xbox, it’s the exact same list, with the only difference being Roblox and Minecraft’s positions are swapped.

These are all long-running games with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer and have been consistently updated over the years – with only Call Of Duty being a traditional yearly release.

What’s especially telling is that, according to Piscatella, these lists are unchanged compared to 2024. The order’s slightly different for Xbox, but it’s still the same five games.

2025's top 5 most played games on US Xbox ranked by % of active panel that played:1 – Fortnite2 – Call of Duty3 – GTAV4 – Minecraft5 – RobloxSame list for 2024:1 – Call of Duty2 – Fortnite3 – Minecraft4 – GTAV5 – RobloxSource: Circana Player Engagement Tracker

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T15:20:42.099Z

Fortnite is the youngest of the bunch, having launched in 2017, which means no other games, live service ones or otherwise, have managed to come close to this list’s level of popularity in the last eight years.

Knowing this, it’s hard to imagine things being any different this time next year. Call Of Duty may drop a couple of places thanks to Black Ops 7, which only launched two months ago and has been a relative flop, at least by the series’ standards.

While there are no public figures on console, SteamDB’s data shows Call Of Duty has been bleeding players for years on PC, with even 2024’s well received Black Ops 6 bucking the trend.

Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders may be the go-to multiplayer shooters for the moment but Call Of Duty clearly has a tight stranglehold on the gaming community when it’s still among the most played games in the US despite its online reputation.

This knowledge should be a turn-off for any studio hoping to break into the live service games market, but comments from Ubisoft suggest it’s unperturbed (even after multiple failures) and the big closure of The Game Awards 2025 was a new live service shooter from the Apex Legends creators called Highguard, that’s set to launch later this month.

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After it was suggested that Escape From Tarkov could make campaign co-op runs easier, an update to the game has done the exact opposite.

If you’ve heard of Escape From Tarkov, you’re no doubt aware that the extraction shooter has a reputation for being a notoriously difficult video game. That’s why it was such a big deal when someone actually managed to complete the story campaign and escape from Tarkov last month.

The game’s difficulty has been a talking point ever since Escape From Tarkov’s early access launch on PC, several years ago, with long-time players often warning newbies about how unforgiving it is.

As such, there are some requests for the difficulty to be toned down, particularly when trying to escape as a group. In what can only be described as a premium case of trolling, though, a recent update to the game has purposefully made it harder.

For context, when you reach the end of Escape From Tarkov’s last map – Terminal – there is a boat you must board in order to flee the city. If more than one person makes it to the end at the same time, though, there’s never enough room for all of them to escape.

As highlighted by Twitch streamer Velion on X, if two or three players work together, there’s still only one seat available on the boat. If there are four players, there are only two seats and then three seats for five players. Basically, anyone who’s playing with friends could still be stranded even after making it all the way to the end.

In their post, Velion directly tagged Escape From Tarkov’s director, Nikita Buyanov, to suggest this be changed with an update: ‘Imagine being able to go into Terminal and meeting two other players who you work together on a hard map and you survive and make it out. You could potentially make some dope friends.’

Surprisingly, just a couple of hours later, Buyanov replied to say, ‘It’s changed already,’ which means either the development team made a very quick turnaround or this change was already planned beforehand.

Players have since learned the hard way, though, that this change isn’t what Velion asked for. Instead of adding more seats, now there’s only ever one seat available, no matter how many of you there are.

Another Twitch streamer, Pestily, has drawn attention to this on X, saying, ‘I watched multiple runs of Terminal yesterday and even with five people getting to the end it’s always one seat now? I understand ‘changed’ can mean multiple things but only one?’

Other players have chimed in to verify this, with one saying, ‘We went six to seven times helping chat (five mans) yesterday and every single time one spot.’

‘Did a run the other day with me and two other randoms and thankfully I won the coin flip (the one guy said he won’t take it) and I got out but we only had one seat,’ adds another.

So far, Buyanov hasn’t offered any reasoning behind this change, nor are there any official patch notes or statements from the Escape From Tarkov X account. But as you can guess, some players are not happy with it.

‘If this s*** isn’t fixed soon (more seats on the boat, allowing groups to Transit into Terminal together) I’m done with this game, plenty of other games out there,’ writes one disgruntled player.

Another one argues, ‘This is actually the biggest L I’ve seen by Nikita yet.  It’s the biggest challenge in the game, the big climax at the very end, and we’re forcing PvP in the worst way. Either let everyone escape who gets put into the map or make it a fully solo experience.’

Naturally, there are some who just find the change hilarious or even prefer there only ever being one seat. Some players who aren’t as bothered still reckon it might be too harsh a change though: ‘Maybe two to three seats max could be a good middle ground? Keeps the pressure without killing group play entirely.’

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Microsoft is already testing with AI as a video game guide, and it looks like Sony is at least interested in trying something similar.

It’s no secret that Sony is experimenting with AI technology for video games in more ways than one. Footage of an AI replica of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West, that you could theoretically talk to, leaked last year and though details are purposefully vague, AI tech will be a key part of the PlayStation 6.

As such, it’s probably only a matter of time before we see some form of AI integration in PlayStation games, such as AI generated assets, which have cropped up in the likes of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Recently, a new patent filed by Sony was spotted and it talks about using generative AI to create a ‘ghost player’ that can essentially play video games for you.

The patent can be found on the World Intellectual Property Organization website and while it was initially filed in 2024, it was only published and discovered recently.

Rather than have developers program the solutions for tricky levels or puzzles into it, the AI model will be trained on not just your own gameplay, but also footage posted to social media and streaming sites like YouTube and Twitch.

From that, the AI ghost supposedly learns how the game is played and can determine an optimal solution. The patent mentions two distinct modes: a guide mode, where the ghost shows the solution for you to copy, and a complete mode which does as the name suggests.

There’s even mention of allowing you to talk with the ghost and have them explain what you need to do, as well as having their appearance be customisable.

The patent goes as far as to suggest the ghost could take the form of characters from other games or movies, which just sounds like a legal nightmare.

While there’s certainly well-meaning intent behind the idea, this patent is ultimately offering a solution to a long since answered question. A lot of games nowadays have their own means of assisting players and not just through different difficulty options.

Some games will let you skip sections if you fail one too many times (which Insomniac does with the puzzles in its Spider-Man game) or have characters provide hints, like in God Of War: Ragnarök.

Not to mention the PlayStation 5 has a Game Help system already in place, that lets you watch videos of how other players bypassed any challenges you’re stuck on.

The act of having the game play itself isn’t even new, since Nintendo dabbled with the same idea with its Super Guide feature. For a while, Mario platformers like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the New Super Mario Bros. games had an option where if you died enough times, you’d unlock the option for the game to autoplay itself and beat a level for you.

It was only ever used in five games, though, before quietly vanishing, which suggests Nintendo figured out it wasn’t very popular or useful.

Considering this is only a patent, it’s entirely possible that Sony may not go through with this idea, as opposed to Microsoft which is still testing its Copilot AI as a video game guide.

A study last year showed that AI is actually quite useless for assisting players with games and often spreads misinformation – and it’s easy to see how that’s going to happen if it’s watching videos on TikTok to ‘learn’ how to play a game.

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