Gaming News — 2026-05-08#

Top Story#

Nintendo is officially raising the price of the Switch 2 by $50 globally starting September 1, 2026, blaming long-term changes in market conditions. This pushes the base console up to $499.99 in the U.S., effectively ending the launch-pricing era much earlier than expected.

News & Reviews#

Sony Reports $765 Million Impairment Loss Due to Bungie · IGN PlayStation’s financials took a massive hit today as Sony reported a $765 million impairment loss against Bungie’s assets. The hardcore extraction shooter Marathon has failed to meet sales expectations despite its reported $250 million budget, leaving Bungie struggling to figure out how to pull in more casual players.

Resident Evil Requiem Gets Roguelike ‘Leon’ Mode · IGN Capcom dashed our hopes for a traditional Mercenaries mode, instead shadow-dropping a permanent-death roguelike mode called “Leon Must Die Forever” for Resident Evil Requiem. Available to anyone who beat the campaign, this mode forces players to survive increasingly tough environments with random gear to reach the final boss. The base game remains an absolute must-play survival horror masterpiece that earned an exceptional 9/10 review score.

Helldivers 2 Devs Address Plunging Steam Reviews · IGN With recent Steam reviews dipping to ‘mostly negative’, developer Arrowhead has published an in-universe transmission promising major incoming updates. The studio is actively revamping the Galactic War with multi-week campaigns, addressing balance backlash, and working on new stratagems to win back disgruntled divers.

Slay the Spire 2 Completely Removes Frustrating Boss · IGN After getting review-bombed by frustrated players, Mega Crit has completely ripped the Act 3 boss “Doormaker” out of the Slay the Spire 2 beta. It has been replaced with a brand-new boss, “Aeonglass”, as the developers felt the old encounter pushed past the complexity threshold they actually wanted for the highly anticipated deckbuilder.

Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients Update Revealed · IGN The “Return of the Ancients” update drops on May 29, serving as the final major update before Path of Exile 2 hits its 1.0 launch later in 2026. The action-RPG, which we awarded a ‘Great’ 8/10, is getting 50+ hours of endgame content, a completely reimagined Atlas Tree, and two new Ascendancy classes.

Sony Undecided on PS6 Launch Amid Memory Shortages · IGN Due to an AI-fueled chip crisis keeping memory prices painfully high, Sony has not yet decided when to launch the PlayStation 6 or how much it will cost. This could ultimately push the PS6 launch to 2028 or 2029, lengthening the current PS5 lifecycle as the company looks into new business models to deal with the hardware squeeze.

Free Games & Deals#

While no Epic Games Store freebies were announced today, you absolutely need to act fast if you’re looking to jump into the Switch 2 ecosystem before Nintendo’s brutal price hike hits. The best hardware deal right now is the Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 Switch 2 bundle, which effectively saves you around $70 off the future cost of the console, but the offer completely expires tomorrow, May 9.

Also Worth Knowing#

Takashi Tezuka Set to Retire (IGN): Legendary Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka, who helped create Yoshi and directed the original Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda, is retiring in June at age 65.
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Sales Explode (IGN): Despite massive community backlash over their individual $20 eShop price tags, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen shifted an insane 4 million copies in just six weeks.
Mortal Kombat II Movie is a Brutal Good Time (IGN): Mortal Kombat II hits theaters today and scored an 8/10 from us for ditching the weird “arcana” lore and delivering the bloody, campy tournament fans actually want.
New Studio Takes the Wheel for WRC 2027 (IGN): The next official World Rally Championship game is being built from scratch in Unreal Engine 5 by Grit Games, a brand-new studio staffed by former KT Racing veterans.