Gaming News — Week of 2026-03-31 to 2026-04-03#
Story of the Week#
It’s been a chaotic rollercoaster of a week for Naughty Dog fans, experiencing extreme highs and devastating lows. First, we got the heartbreaking confirmation from the game director that the highly anticipated, but ultimately cancelled, The Last of Us Online was nearly 80% complete before Sony pulled the plug to forcibly refocus resources on single-player titles. However, the studio quickly softened the blow for its community; Neil Druckmann teased that there are still stops left on the road ahead for The Last of Us Part 3, while Naughty Dog’s creative director fueled intense speculation that Uncharted 5 is in development by posting research trip photos from a fort in Trinidad.
Top Stories#
[The Gaming Hardware Pricing Crisis] · IGN The era of mid-generation price drops is officially dead, and the gaming industry is facing an existential crisis. With Sony slapping the PS5 Slim with a $100 increase and bumping the PS5 Pro to a staggering $899 in the US, analysts are warning that this trend of increasingly expensive base hardware threatens the medium by risking pricing out the next generation of gamers entirely.
[Switch 2’s Stellar Lineup and Archaic Paywalls] · IGN Nintendo finally blew the lid off the Switch 2’s 2026 launch lineup, promising massive multi-platform heavy hitters like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth right out of the gate. Unfortunately, they paired this incredible news with classic anti-consumer Nintendo behavior by officially paywalling the Switch 2’s “C Button” GameChat feature behind a paid Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
[The GTA 4 Beta Leak Saga] · IGN A historic piece of gaming media was unearthed when an abandoned $13 Xbox 360 dev kit from a Scottish flea market yielded a massive, never-before-seen 2007 beta build of Grand Theft Auto 4. Dataminers immediately found incredible cut content like playable ferries and an abandoned zombie minigame, but Take-Two’s lawyers predictably nuked the leaks from orbit with a swift DMCA takedown.
[USPTO Rejects Nintendo’s Patent Against Palworld] · IGN Pocketpair just secured a massive lifeline in their ongoing legal battle with the Japanese industry giant. The USPTO issued a non-final rejection of Nintendo’s controversial “summon character and let it fight” patent, with IP experts correctly pointing out that these mechanics already exist in countless games ranging from Persona to Elden Ring.
[Classic Resident Evil Trilogy Drops on Steam With A Catch] · IGN Capcom surprised everyone by releasing the original 1996 Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in a $14.97 bundle on Steam. However, in a deeply frustrating move, the publisher slapped modern DRM on these decades-old classics, completely breaking Steam Deck compatibility and enraging the dedicated modding community that has kept the games alive for years.
Free Games & Deals#
If you want to dodge Sony’s brutal hardware price hikes hitting this week, your absolute best bet is to grab a “Like-New” used PS5 console from Amazon Resale for $712.18 before the $899 Pro pricing permanently goes into effect. On the freebie front, Epic Games Store is delivering the goods with two excellent PC titles you can claim to keep forever: the chaotic gladiator brawler Clone Drone in the Danger Zone (free until April 9) and the bizarre retro cult hit TOMAK: Save the Earth Regeneration (free until April 16). If you need a cheap, top-tier game to play right now, Fanatical has Resident Evil 3 heavily discounted to a ridiculous $3.59, and you can grab a physical copy of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for the upcoming Switch 2 at an excellent low of $29.99 from Walmart.
Also Worth Knowing#
- M&A Watch: Disney executives are reportedly biding their time for the perfect moment to fully acquire Fortnite developer Epic Games, aiming to secure the founder-controlled company after their previous $1.5 billion investment.
- Mikami Returns: Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has acquired Unbound, the new studio led by legendary Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, who teased he is directing a large-scale “masterpiece”.
- End of an Era: Despite reaching 150 million players, the pioneering VR social club Rec Room is officially shutting down on its 10th anniversary due to overwhelming costs and an inability to find a profitable business model.
- DLSS Evolution: Nvidia is preparing to change the PC graphics game entirely by teasing DLSS 5, a wild evolution from traditional AI upscaling that fundamentally re-draws frames based on scene geometry.
- A Colossal Hit: Pearl Abyss’s open-world adventure Crimson Desert pushed past 4 million copies sold in just two weeks, blowing players away with complex systems like real-time NPC town building.