Author: Fawad Malik

Key Takeaways Despite the optimism surrounding June’s Xbox Games Showcase, featuring Gears of War: E-Day, Persona 6, and Halo: Campaign Evolved, reports suggest Microsoft has paused third-party Game Pass deals, leaving developers in advanced negotiations without contracts or an explanation. The claims came via TheGamer’s coverage of the Business of Video Games Podcast, where Arrowhead Studios CEO Shams Jorjani and Kaboodle Games CEO Fernando Rizo discussed conversations from First Playable in Italy. Rizo said, “Word on the street is that loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals… everybody got the rug pulled out from under…

Key Takeaways Five years after announcing Haunted Chocolatier, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has shared a new development update. While Stardew Valley received multiple major updates during that time, Haunted Chocolatier remained largely quiet. In a blog post titled “Still Here, Still Grinding,” Barone confirmed the game is still in active development and explained that, as a solo developer, he is carefully refining features players will use most. “I know it’s taking a long time,” he wrote, adding that those systems need to be “perfect,” seamless, clear, intuitive, satisfying, and aesthetic. The message carries weight because of Barone’s track record with Stardew…

Key Takeaways Surviving the freezing wasteland was already a massive headache, but 11 Bit Studios makes the apocalypse feel even more suffocating in Frostpunk 2: Breach of Trust. This expansion swaps out bitter winds for unstable volcanoes, forcing players to manage complex city layouts and shifting infrastructure under constant tectonic threats. Just like major storefronts are optimizing their launchers for peak performance, keeping the virtual populace of New Edinburgh content happy takes a careful balance of public trust and survival decisions before society falls into chaos. The Volcano Replaces the Cold as Your Main Threat The most immediate change in…

Key Takeaways After more than seven months since the Steam Machine’s November 2025 reveal, and multiple rounds of pricing uncertainty driven by severe PC component shortages, Valve has finally set pricing. The Steam Machine costs $1,049 for the 512GB model, with a 2TB version at $1,349. A bundle including the new Steam Controller with the 2TB unit is priced at $1,428. The device launches June 30, 2026, with pre-orders opening five days earlier on June 25, through a randomised waitlist designed to avoid friction seen in the Steam Controller pre-order process. Tracking Valve’s summer launch window already anticipated a premium;…

Key Takeaways Excitement around the return of classic Call of Duty has quickly met reality. After news that native ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are coming to PlayStation platforms next month, backend store updates have triggered a wave of sticker shock in the gaming community. For many players who have long wanted easy access to these titles without revisiting older hardware, the pricing suggests these releases are being positioned less as simple preservation efforts and more as premium nostalgia purchases. Store Listings Drop a Major Reality Check on Fans The sudden…

Key Takeaways For years, users who played games on PC have treated the Epic Games Launcher as a sluggish, resource-heavy barrier to accessing Fortnite and weekly free titles. That friction is ending. Epic Games has unveiled “Launcher V2,” a ground-up architectural rebuild designed to eliminate multi-second delays from cloud synchronization. The update aims to finally deliver the high-performance, responsive storefront experience that millions of desktop users have long been waiting for. New Architecture Drastically Slashes Interface Latency The next version of the launcher is being rebuilt around one simple goal: getting rid of the annoying lag that has followed the…

Key Takeaways After seven months of silence, Rockstar Games updated GTA 6 on June 18, confirming that pre-orders will open on June 25. The studio also revealed the game’s official cover art. Pricing and edition details were not announced, though fans can currently wishlist the title on PlayStation Store and Xbox Store to receive pre-order notifications. Pre-orders will be available through the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and select retailers, including Target and Amazon. The update follows Rockstar’s earlier confirmation of a November 19 release date, marking the next key milestone in the game’s launch timeline. What the Cover Art Actually…

Key Takeaways Since the retirement of the PlayStation 3 era, fans of classic military shooters have been unable to revisit some of the genre’s most iconic games on modern PlayStation hardware. That is finally changing. In a surprise announcement that energized the FPS community, Treyarch confirmed that native PlayStation ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will launch this July, bringing two legendary multiplayer experiences back for a new generation of players. Iron Galaxy Takes the Reins on a Classic Revamped Porting titles built on legacy network systems into modern digital ecosystems is…

Key Takeaways The harsh reality of modern game development has claimed another victim, turning a promising indie success story on its head. Less than thirty days after launching their critically acclaimed cosmic-horror shooter Luna Abyss, the Kwalee Labs team behind the subterranean bullet-hell title was laid off instead of celebrating its achievement.  The sudden cuts show how quickly a parent company can dissolve an entire studio despite creative success, highlighting the instability many developers face even after delivering a well-received launch.  A Critical Darling Buried by Commercial Math The decision to shut down the team came down to a harsh…

Key Takeaways The brutal economics of modern gaming are putting some of the industry’s best storytelling teams on the chopping block. Just days after putting these studios front and center at the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft leadership is now looking to cut them from the books. For fans of narrative-driven standouts like Psychonauts 2 or Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, it’s a stark reminder that under the Xbox Game Studios banner, even critically acclaimed studios are not guaranteed safety. Creative Powerhouses Put Up For Sale The most unsettling part of this sudden restructuring is the names now on the cut list.…