Gaming News — 2026-04-01#

Top Story#

In a massive power move for the Asian game development scene, Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has acquired Unbound, the new studio led by legendary Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. Mikami is back in the trenches and teased that he’ll be fully involved on-site to direct what he describes as a “fairly large game” and a “masterpiece”.

News & Reviews#

USPTO Rejects Nintendo’s Pokémon Patent in Palworld Dispute In a stunning turn of events for the ongoing legal battle, the USPTO has issued a non-final rejection of Nintendo’s controversial “summon character and let it fight” patent. IP experts criticized the patent for claiming mechanics seen in a vast array of games ranging from Persona to Elden Ring, giving Palworld developer Pocketpair some much-needed breathing room against the industry giant.

Super Meat Boy 3D Review Team Meat’s brutally hard 2D platformer has taken the leap into the third dimension, but the dreaded Z-axis proves to be a formidable enemy. While the game effectively translates Meat Boy’s lightning-fast momentum and adds a clever air-dash mechanic, frustrating perspective issues often make you miss crucial jumps and turn the otherwise brilliant precision platforming into a guessing game.

Crimson Desert Crosses 4 Million Sales and Shows Off Real-Time NPCs Pearl Abyss has a colossal hit on its hands, with Crimson Desert pushing past 4 million copies sold in just two weeks and raking in an estimated $200 million across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. As players continue to dig into the massive open-world adventure, they’re discovering incredibly complex game systems, like being able to assign NPCs to jobs and literally watching them build farms and bridges in real-time without fading to a loading screen.

Sony Unveils April 2026 PS Plus Lineup April’s PlayStation Plus Monthly Games drop is a solid one, bringing the enjoyable 8/10 Soulslike Lords of the Fallen and Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream to subscribers starting April 7. The real treat, however, is the surprise addition of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, offering up Lara Croft’s classic trilogy with a beautiful fresh coat of paint and all expansions.

Pokémon Go’s Mimikyu Arrival is Real, But Fortnite’s Big Heads Are Fleeting Niantic pulled the ultimate reverse-prank for April Fools’ Day by finally adding the highly requested, Pikachu-disguised Mimikyu to Pokémon Go for real. Meanwhile, Fortnite celebrated the holiday with a wacky 24-hour update that introduced giant bobbleheads, finger gun weapons, and the ability to ride on your squadmates’ shoulders.

Free Games & Deals#

You need to act incredibly fast if you want to buy PlayStation 5 hardware, because starting tomorrow (April 2), Sony is hitting the PS5 Slim with a $100 price increase and the PS5 Pro with a staggering $150 hike, bumping the premium console up to $899.99 in the US and £789.99 in the UK. To beat the gouge, UK gamers can grab a PS5 Pro from Argos on sale for £639.99, and snag “Like New” PS Portals on Amazon Resale for a steeply discounted £148.76. On the software side, Nintendo fans can score a physical copy of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for the Switch 2 at an excellent low of $29.99 via Walmart. Finally, if you want unmatched PC power, the Alienware Area-51 featuring the coveted RTX 5090 and Ryzen 7 9850X3D is currently discounted by $950, dropping it to $4,699.99.

Also Worth Knowing#

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