Gaming News — Week of 2026-06-20 to 2026-06-26#

Story of the Week#

The gaming hardware market is currently in a state of absolute chaos, defined by skyrocketing component costs and a dramatic shift in console dominance. Microsoft is jacking up the Xbox Series X to an eye-watering $799.99 in August, which has contributed to catastrophic sales lows for both Xbox and PlayStation. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 is completely obliterating the competition, capping off a historic first year with 5.9 million US units sold as gamers flock to more affordable hardware.

Gaming News — 2026-07-14#

Top Story#

Riot Games has officially announced League of Legends Classic, rolling the clock back over 15 years to bring players the original Summoner’s Rift, a 60-champion starting roster, and the glorious return of old-school runes and masteries. Launching July 29, this heavily requested mode promises a nostalgic trip for MOBA veterans while blending in essential modern quality-of-life updates like improved matchmaking and server infrastructure.

News & Reviews#

Halo Studios Reportedly Cancels New Multiplayer Project · IGN Microsoft’s flagship sci-fi franchise is taking another hit, as a massive new Halo multiplayer project codenamed ‘Ekur’ has reportedly been scrapped. Developed by Certain Affinity, the title was planned as a large-scale battle experience utilizing Unreal Engine, but development troubles on Campaign Evolved forced a tragic reallocation of studio resources. It’s a bitter pill for competitive Spartans who are desperately craving a fresh PVP experience to tide them over until the next console generation.

Gaming News — 2026-07-10#

Top Story#

Massive structural layoffs have struck Xbox, resulting in severe cuts across Bethesda and id Software that have the industry reeling. Bethesda’s restructuring has cast a dark shadow over highly anticipated titles, with The Elder Scrolls 6 reportedly still at least two years away and the Elder Scrolls Online team facing heavy losses, while id Software lost roughly half its staff but insists it retains the core team needed to make great games.

Gaming News — 2026-07-09#

Top Story#

Xbox is in the middle of a brutal, historic restructuring led by CEO Asha Sharma, resulting in a staggering 1,600 immediate layoffs and another 1,600 planned over the year. These massive cuts have severely impacted the Bethesda team developing The Elder Scrolls 6 and gutted legendary Doom developer id Software, raising fears of massive delays and shaking the industry to its core.

News & Reviews#

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Has Already Earned the Series’ Biggest Player Peak on Steam · IGN Ubisoft’s ground-up remake of its beloved pirate adventure launched with nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, setting a massive new record for the entire franchise. Earning a stellar 9/10 review score, it breathes fresh life into a classic and has already beaten the lifetime sales of Ubisoft’s other massive pirate endeavor, Skull & Bones. It’s exactly the kind of definitive hit the beleaguered publisher needed after a tough few years.

Gaming News — 2026-04-06#

Top Story#

The World of Warcraft: Midnight Race to World First just threw the community a massive curveball with a secret, ultra-hard final phase for the raid boss L’ura. Discovered fittingly on Easter Sunday, the corrupted cosmic entity resurrected from 0% health with a hidden mechanic, sending top raiding guilds Liquid and Echo scrambling to adjust their strategies on the fly.

News & Reviews#

[Life is Strange: Reunion Delivers a Proper Ending](https://www.ign.com/articles/life-is-strange-reunion-review) The long-awaited return of Max and Chloe delivers exactly what the series has been missing, diving heavily into themes of death anxiety and the traumatic consequences of time manipulation. Our 2026 review praises the tighter narrative and excellent new mechanics, such as Chloe’s argument-winning “talk back” feature, giving this decade-long story the poignant and highly replayable wrap-up it deserves.

Gaming News — 2026-04-08#

Top Story#

Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 6 is shaping up to be an absolute showstopper, boasting a dense, highly vertical Tokyo City and sprawling Japanese Alps. Hands-on previews confirm it is a brilliantly executed Japanese driving fantasy that will easily eat up hours of exploration when it launches next month.

News & Reviews#

Fans Bash Pokémon Champions’ Rocky Launch The newly-released free-to-play Pokémon Champions is facing serious backlash on the Switch and Switch 2 for its performance issues and missing features. Players are particularly upset about the lack of local wireless play, the omission of standard 6v6 custom battles, and a limited roster of only 185 Pokémon species at launch.

Gaming News — 2026-04-10#

Top Story#

Epic Games is reportedly developing a brand-new extraction shooter featuring a slate of Disney characters, which is currently targeting a November 2026 release. The title stems from Disney’s massive $1.5 billion investment in the Fortnite developer, though internal sources say there is some concern over unoriginal game mechanics.

News & Reviews#

Pokémon Champions Review So Far · IGN The new “free-to-start” Pokémon Champions strips out exploration to focus entirely on classic PVP battling, but its launch state leaves a lot to be desired. Plagued by a lackluster roster of only 186 monsters and missing crucial held items for competitive play, the game leans way too heavily into mobile-style gacha mechanics.

Gaming News — 2026-04-13#

Top Story#

Hackers known as ShinyHunters have breached Rockstar Games’ data through a third-party application, demanding a ransom and threatening to leak sensitive company information ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar has actively downplayed the breach, insisting that only “non-material” company info was accessed and that development on their highly-anticipated open-world crime epic remains entirely unimpacted.

News & Reviews#

Pragmata Review · IGN Capcom’s Pragmata delivers a brisk, 12-hour campaign that feels ripped straight out of the Xbox 360 era, focusing on highly satisfying, gimmick-driven combat rather than deep storytelling. The core loop—using real-time grid-based hacking to expose robot weak spots while blasting away with punchy weapons—is incredibly engaging and easily makes up for the somewhat generic sci-fi plot. This is definitely worth a playthrough for anyone who misses punchy, straightforward, old-school action shooters.

Gaming News — 2026-04-15#

Top Story#

Pearl Abyss’s open-world adventure Crimson Desert is an absolute smash hit, crossing 5 million copies sold less than a month after its March 19 launch. The massive milestone is well-deserved, with the game even earning high praise from The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who commended it for delivering a “quite fresh” departure from standard triple-A RPGs.

News & Reviews#

Marathon Overhauls Gameplay to Encourage Friendly Encounters · IGN Bungie dropped patch 1.0.6 for its extraction shooter Marathon, introducing a new C.A.R.R.I. system that rewards players with “CyberAcme Commendations” for extracting alongside strangers. The community reaction is surprisingly wholesome, with players actively reviving enemies and sharing loot rather than immediately shooting each other. This update also brought sweeping changes to weapons, equipment, and Shells, making the notoriously brutal game slightly more approachable for newcomers.

Gaming News — 2026-04-16#

Top Story#

The post-apocalyptic survival shooter series is back with the official announcement of Metro 2039, plunging players into an even darker, more psychological journey through the Moscow Metro. Arriving this winter on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, the game will feature a new protagonist, handcrafted levels, and a terrifying neo-Nazi faction known as the Novoreich.

News & Reviews#

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Remake Reportedly Set for July Release Rumors are swirling that the highly anticipated pirate remake, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, will officially launch on July 9. Ubisoft hasn’t explicitly confirmed the date yet, but a recent European PEGI rating suggests we are getting very close to setting sail once again.