Gaming News — 2026-04-14#

Top Story#

Microsoft is reportedly rethinking its Game Pass strategy, with rumors swirling that this year’s Call of Duty might be pulled as a day-one release. Following reports that Xbox leadership finds the subscription service “too expensive for players,” this massive shift away from day-one releases for their biggest shooter was allegedly a primary factor behind the recent Game Pass price hikes.

News & Reviews#

Mouse: P.I. for Hire Review · IGN Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a gorgeous black-and-white boomer shooter that nails the 1930s cartoon aesthetic, but completely misses the mark on noir storytelling. While the retro gunplay feels solid enough to carry the 12-hour campaign, the non-stop cheese puns and the ludonarrative dissonance of playing a mass-murdering private eye keep it from achieving its true potential.

Sony Announces Bloodborne and Zelda Movie Updates · IGN In a massive CinemaCon reveal, Sony Pictures announced an R-rated animated Bloodborne film produced by PlayStation Productions and YouTuber JackSepticEye. On top of that, Sony confirmed that filming for Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda movie has officially wrapped ahead of its May 7, 2027 theatrical release.

Windrose Sets Sail to Huge Early Access Success · IGN The PvE pirate survival game Windrose (formerly known as Crosswind) is off to a phenomenal start out of the gates. With a concurrent peak of over 25,000 players and a 90% “Very Positive” rating on Steam, its brutal “soulslite” combat and rewarding base-building mechanics are proving to be a massive hit.

Valor Mortis Preview: A Grotesque Napoleon Soulslike · IGN Valor Mortis is shaping up to be an incredibly brutal, horrifying first-person Soulslike set within the corrupted ranks of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Hands-on previews revealed satisfying parry-heavy combat and dual-wielding pistol action, though the demo’s punishing difficulty was so high that almost no one actually finished it.

Overwatch Season 2 Ushers in a New Era · IGN Overwatch is officially dropping the “2” and launching its massive Season 2 “Reign of Talon” storyline alongside a brand new recon-focused DPS hero named Sierra. The update also brings a much-needed rework to the Antarctic Peninsula map to smooth out flanking routes, and finally restores the beloved post-match accolades system.

Bethesda Addressing Starfield PS5 Crashes · IGN Microsoft’s highly anticipated rival console launch of Starfield on the PS5 has been unfortunately marred by progression-breaking crashes and save issues over its opening weekend. Thankfully, Bethesda Game Studios has publicly acknowledged the problems and is aiming to deploy a hotfix later this week to stabilize the Settled Systems.

Free Games & Deals#

It’s an absolutely stacked day for hardware and game deals. Nintendo has officially launched a new Switch 2 console bundle that includes Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, saving you $20 off the standalone prices. For Xbox Series X owners, the spectacular Monster Hunter Wilds is currently deeply discounted down to just $12.49. On the PC hardware front, Alienware just dropped the AW2726DM—an impressive 27" QHD 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor with a 3-year burn-in warranty—for an unheard-of OLED entry price of $349.99. Finally, if you need a high-end prebuilt rig, Lenovo’s Legion Tower 5 featuring an RTX 5070 Ti and 32GB of DDR5 RAM is slashed by $700, bringing the total down to $1,899 at B&H Photo.

Also Worth Knowing#

• Animal Crossing Update Drops Switch 2 Clues: Animal Crossing: New Horizons received its 3.0.2 patch with a 25th-anniversary leaf ornament, and the official patch notes explicitly mention fixes for “playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2”.
• Marvel Rivals Confirmed for Switch 2: Alongside a new wave of massive, stylized Hasbro action figures, developers confirmed Marvel Rivals is actively in the works for the Nintendo Switch 2.
• Rockstar Hack Spares GTA 6: A recent Rockstar data breach released by ShinyHunters revealed massive GTA Online revenue with PS5 acting as the top earner, but thankfully contained no GTA 6 leaks.
• Avoid the Lenovo Legion Go 2: IGN’s hardware desk is warning gamers to skip the newly priced Lenovo Legion Go 2, citing its outrageous $1,999 price tag compared to the perfectly capable $999 Xbox Ally X.
• Replaced Hit with Game-Breaking Bug: The stunning cyberpunk platformer Replaced launched today, but Xbox Series S players should pause before Chapter 5 due to a memory-related bug that destroys save data until a patch arrives later this week.