Gaming News — 2026-05-20#

Top Story#

Sony has officially announced a massive State of Play showcase slated for June 2, 2026, which will run for over 60 minutes. The presentation will feature a fresh, highly anticipated look at Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine ahead of its September release, alongside updates on a slate of other upcoming PS5 titles.

News & Reviews#

Detroit: Become Human Dev Quantic Dream Kills Live Service Game 3 Months After Early Access Launch In another brutal blow to the live-service market, Quantic Dream has pulled the plug on its 3v3 MOBA Spellcasters Chronicles just three months into Early Access. The game suffered from disastrously low player counts, peaking at just 888 players on Steam, and its cancelation will unfortunately result in a round of studio layoffs. However, the studio insists that development on the highly anticipated Star Wars Eclipse remains entirely unaffected.

Subnautica 2 Outlines Changes Coming to the Game in Response to No Killing Fish Debate Subnautica 2 has had a bumpy Early Access launch, battling backlash over a wildly overreaching EULA (which is now being adjusted) and community frustration regarding predatory fish. While developer Unknown Worlds firmly stated they will not add lethal weapons to the game to preserve its focus on vulnerability, they promised upcoming patches to fix aggressive predator behavior and improve player mitigation tools.

Open-World Lord of Rings RPG and New Kingdom Come Game Confirmed in Development at Warhorse Studios Warhorse Studios, the team behind the stellar Kingdom Come: Deliverance franchise, is officially developing an “open world Middle-earth RPG” based on The Lord of the Rings. Because they described it as a Middle-earth RPG, it might fall outside the traditional timeline of Tolkien’s core books, but injecting Warhorse’s penchant for deep, story-driven mechanics into a fantasy setting is incredibly promising. The studio also confirmed a new Kingdom Come adventure is in the works.

Embracer ‘Actively Exploring’ External Partnerships for the Likes of Saints Row, Deus Ex, TimeSplitters, and More There is finally a glimmer of hope for some of gaming’s best dormant franchises. Embracer Group is spinning off a new business unit, Fellowship Entertainment, to actively explore external development partnerships for IPs like Deus Ex, Saints Row, Legacy of Kain, and TimeSplitters. While no specific games were announced, this means studios outside the messy Embracer umbrella could finally breathe life back into these beloved series.

Ubisoft Promises New Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost Recon Games All by March 2029 Ubisoft’s latest financial report confirmed an aggressive roadmap aiming to launch new mainline titles for Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost Recon by the end of March 2029. Specifically, the witchcraft-themed Assassin’s Creed Hexe is slated to drop sometime in 2027. Conspicuously absent from their pipeline updates, however, were long-lost projects like Beyond Good and Evil 2 and the Splinter Cell remake.

Hellraiser: Revival Continues to Look Absolutely Disgusting in New Gameplay Trailer Saber Interactive’s Hellraiser: Revival is shaping up to be a deliciously gory survival horror experience. A new trailer highlighted the Genesis Configuration—an evil puzzle box that functions almost like a supernatural gravity gun, allowing players to hurl rusty spikes at enemies or harness open flames for destructive attacks. The developers confirmed they are embracing the franchise’s extreme violence without censorship, aiming for maximum shock value.

Free Games & Deals#

While there are no major free game drops to report today, Memorial Day tech sales are bringing some incredibly steep discounts for PC gamers. If you are looking to secure the absolute pinnacle of gaming performance, Lenovo has heavily discounted their Legion Tower 7 Gen 10 PC—armed with the brand-new, ultra-powerful RTX 5090 and an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K—down to $4,657.49. For upgraders, Walmart has dropped the price of a PNY GeForce RTX 5070 12GB below the $600 mark for the first time this year, available for $599. Finally, the phenomenal GameSir G7 Pro Wireless PC Controller, which easily rivals the Xbox Elite, is down to a steal at $60.62 on AliExpress.

Also Worth Knowing#

• ‘People Enjoy Surprises’ — Valve Is Trying to Dismiss New York’s Counter-Strike Loot Box Lawsuit: Valve is fighting back against the NY Attorney General’s illegal gambling lawsuit over Counter-Strike 2 loot boxes, comparing the digital cases to baseball cards and Happy Meal toys because “people enjoy surprises.”
• SNK’s New NEOGEO AES+ Console Is Up for Preorder: SNK is releasing a beautiful 1:1 hardware replica of the classic 1990 NEOGEO console this November for $249.99, utilizing re-engineered chips to play both old and newly released physical cartridges natively rather than relying on emulation.
• Two-and-a-Half New Cars Added to Wreckfest 2 in Latest Early Access Update: Bugbear’s stellar demolition racer received its massive 7th Early Access update, introducing three new track layouts, a comprehensive vehicle tuning system, and heavily improved visual damage physics.
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 – Specialist Class Overview: A new developer deep-dive reveals that the upcoming co-op shooter sequel will feature a highly customizable “Specialist” class, allowing players to borrow and mix abilities from other classes once they are fully leveled up.