Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

NiKo finally won a Major. Seventeen attempts and eleven years in the making. Falcons didn’t sneak through a weak bracket either: they cleared three former Major champions in NAVI, Vitality, and Spirit, then swept FURIA 3-0 in the final. karrigan was on that same FaZe roster when Boston 2018 fell apart against Cloud9. Eight years later, they finished it at the LANXESS, in the best possible way.

TLDR

• Microsoft is reportedly closing Compulsion, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory while Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan steps down and Satya Nadella says Xbox must become financially sustainable with a spinoff reportedly on the table. (Eurogamer)

• Epic unveiled Unreal Engine 6, merging UE5 and UEFN into a single engine with cross-game Fortnite skins, $1B already paid to UEFN creators, and Sweeney warning of a “tidal wave sweeping over AAA.” (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Black Myth: Wukong passed 30 million sales in under two years, faster than Elden Ring, with more than half of sales coming from outside China. (Eurogamer)

• Rockstar revealed the official GTA 6 cover art and a visual overview of Vice City, with pre-orders opening June 25 and a November 19 release date confirmed. (Polygon)

• Xbox is reportedly pressuring Bethesda to release The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 as soon as possible. (Polygon)

Releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Nintendo shared multiple screenshots of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort featuring 100 Pin Bowling returning in October on Switch 2 with 12 sports and motion controls. (Nintendo Life)

• Stranger Than Heaven’s combat system was previewed as more challenging than standard Like a Dragon brawling in a second hands-on session. (IGN)

• Mixtape and Subnautica 2 received strong reviews and attention while available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. (GameSpot)

• Toy Story 5 grossed $160 million in its opening weekend in the United States, the largest of 2026. (Polygon)

• STYKO stated at IEM Cologne Major 2026 that the skill gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams is slowly diminishing. (Hotspawn)

• The world’s only museum dedicated to The X-Files in Saratoga Springs, NY contains 10 notable props from the series. (Polygon)

• Halo: Campaign Evolved on PS5 requires two PS Plus subscriptions for split-screen co-op. (Polygon)

• Widow’s Bay director Hiro Murai discussed production challenges in a Polygon interview. (Polygon)

• Richard Garriott is reportedly reclaiming Ultima series rights from EA, potentially as soon as next year. (PC Gamer)

• Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene announced PlayerUnknown Productions is moving forward with a smaller team after funding issues for Prologue: Go Wayback!. (Eurogamer)

• A Microsoft researcher built a goat-powered neural network in Age of Empires 2 to illustrate differences between LLMs and human behavior. (PC Gamer)

• Where Winds Meet Version 1.8 ‘Companions Make Home’ launches June 25 with Homestead system and dynamic pets. (RPG Site)

• LGD Gaming qualified for The International 15 by winning the South American closed qualifiers. (Hotspawn)

• VALORANT esports fans engaged in parasocial behavior and death threats following FUT Esports vs EDward Gaming at Masters London. (Esports Insider)

• CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski hopes Witcher 4 helps complete the studio’s redemption after the Cyberpunk 2077 launch. (IGN)

• Path of Exile 2 director stated players exploiting the system to become in-game millionaires ruined Christmas for him. (PC Gamer)

• Path of Exile 2 features mysteries in the world after the campaign without requiring 100 hours of grinding. (PC Gamer)

• Pokémon Pokopia was updated to Version 1.1.1 fixing Ditto’s facial expression during photos. (Nintendo Life)

• EVE Frontier developers are working on Steam Deck support including gamepad compatibility and a dedicated launcher. (PC Gamer)

• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment soundtrack with 69 tracks is now available on Nintendo Music. (RPG Site)

• Persona 4 Revival broadcast showed story, characters, battle system, and new song rearrangements including Your Affection. (RPG Site)

• LoL Esports Nations Cup 2026 qualifiers format, regions, and competing teams were detailed. (Sheep Esports)

• Palworld studio stated gamers do not want generative AI in games. (PC Gamer)

• Kabam is consolidating its LA office and making layoffs. (Game Developer)

• Two Point Museum x DAVE THE DIVER collaboration update version 10.0 is now available. (Gematsu)

• Garfield: Escape From Monday remains scheduled for September 24. (Polygon)

• Take-Two’s former AI boss stated generative AI hype is poisoning the well for traditional AI use. (Eurogamer)

• Call of Duty Zombies map Kowakujo honors Tom Kane with a dragon-laden Japanese setting. (Hotspawn)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Season 2 DLC character Kenshiro launches in June. (Gematsu)

• Steam Controller demand has caused Valve to change reservation estimates with some deliveries now projected for 2027. (Eurogamer)

• Pragmata development included a group of women called the “Diana Police” to portray the character’s innocence. (Eurogamer)

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 PlayStation re-releases are ports without remastering. (Eurogamer)

• Slay the Spire 2 patch fixed an RNG bug and added a new Act 3 boss. (PC Gamer)

• PlayStation changed its first-party single-player PC strategy due to inconsistent releases and lack of revenue. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Newzoo reported the global games market generated over $200 billion in revenue in 2025. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Riot Games updated VALORANT esports community competition guidelines removing caps and simplifying licensing. (Hotspawn)

• Titan Quest II Chapter 4: Wild Lands update is now available as the largest content update so far. (RPG Site)

• Adam, Isma, Saken, Jezu, and TraYtoN represented France in a showmatch versus Smeb and Korean streamers. (Sheep Esports)

• World of Warcraft patch 12.1 adds Discord chat for guilds. (PC Gamer)

• Esports payment delays affected multiple workers including artists on Dota 2 merchandise. (Esports Insider)

• Riot Games revealed VCT 2027 structure with open pathways, guaranteed prize money, and 14 regional competitions. (Hotspawn)

• Former PlayStation executive stated Xbox tactics show a basic misunderstanding of the interactive entertainment industry. (PC Gamer)

• Unreal Engine 5.8 released with Lumen Lite mode running twice as fast on Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• State of Unreal 2026 unveiled Unreal Engine 6, confirmed Unreal Engine 5.8 availability, and noted $1 billion paid to UEFN developers. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Crimson Moon preview at Summer Game Fest showed bright spots alongside lingering questions for the mid-sized action RPG. (RPG Site)

• Grand Theft Auto 6 has a confirmed November 2026 release date. (Polygon)

• Mega Rayquaza-themed sets Mega Evolution—Delta Reigns and Ruler of the Skies were announced for physical and digital Pokémon TCGs. (Polygon)

• Amazon Games GM stated the company wants to win in gaming but will not become the next Xbox. (Polygon)

• Rockstar quietly revealed a visual overview of GTA 6’s Vice City. (Eurogamer)

• Riot Games is creating a Valorant pub in east London hosted by British takeaway personality Big John. (Eurogamer)

• Rockstar is offering free upgrades to GTA 5 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S for PS4 and Xbox One owners. (Eurogamer)

• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave character Theodora uses Gambits as a polearm fighter. (Siliconera)

• Final Fantasy 14 will give players in Japan a dog for paying their taxes. (PC Gamer)

• Don’t Nod stated it has several levers to secure its financial position after auditors detailed cash concerns. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Jirachi is coming to Pokémon Pokopia next week for a limited time. (VGC)

• Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter details more characters, Orbal Arts, and cooking. (Gematsu)

• Street Fighter 6 DLC character Yasmine launches August 3 with first-look gameplay trailer. (Nintendo Life)

• Genshin Impact Version ‘Luna VIII’ launches July 1 with new character Sandrone and new region. (RPG Site)

• R-Type Tactics I & II Cosmos is now available with free DLC announced. (RPG Site)

• Demo for Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok is now available on PS5, PS4, Switch 2, and PC. (RPG Site)

• Nagoshi Studios’ Gang of Dragon appears to have ceased development. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon Champions launched on mobile today with a new game update adding more Pokémon. (Nintendo Life)

• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles version 1.5.0 ‘Enhanced’ update adds New Game+ and more. (Gematsu)

• Rocket League is receiving an early Unreal Engine 6 release. (Hotspawn)

• Guild Wars 3 aims to solve issues that caused players to quit Guild Wars 2 after thousands of hours. (PC Gamer)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated it feels like a tidal wave is sweeping over the AAA game business. (PC Gamer)

• Unreal Engine 6 will merge UE5 and UEFN into a single unified engine. (Game Developer)

• Brazil court ordered Riot Games to pay $3 million over League of Legends loot boxes. (Esports Insider)

• Epic stated Unreal Engine 6 will let Fortnite skins appear in other games. (IGN)

• Xbox is reportedly pressuring Bethesda to release The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 as soon as possible. (Polygon)

• Dispatch ‘HR Violations Update’ addresses some censorship on Switch 2 and Switch. (Gematsu)

• Fnatic signed GIANTX IGL Cloud ahead of VCT EMEA Stage 2. (Hotspawn)

• Dead by Daylight set a new concurrent player record on Steam after recent updates. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox reportedly planned to split with Ninja Theory when unveiling its new project. (Game Developer)

• Black Myth: Wukong sales reportedly passed a colossal milestone with results beyond expectations. (Eurogamer)

• Assassin’s Creed Shadows final content update ties into Black Flag Resynced. (Eurogamer)

• Nintendo announced a Pokémon Pokopia Switch 2 bundle coming next month. (VGC)

• Capcom announced Gamescom 2026 lineup including playable Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen and Mega Man: Dual Override. (Gematsu)

• Sid Meier considered making Civilization an RTS before settling on turn-based gameplay. (PC Gamer)

• Stop Killing Games movement suffered a setback after European Parliamentary hearing. (Eurogamer)

• Forza Horizon 6 latest patch made it easier for players to 100% regions. (PC Gamer)

• Guild Wars 3 mission statement confirms no pay-to-win, no subscription fees. (Eurogamer)

• EverQuest Legends launches July 28 for casual and solo play supporting groups up to four and raids up to eight. (RPG Site)

• KeSPA sanctioned Ruler with 40 hours of community service and a 20 million won fine. (Sheep Esports)

• A lost Dragon Ball Z fan RPG resurfaced after being dropped in a seven-year-old forum thread. (PC Gamer)

• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave character Dietrich is from Fodlan and uses a Heroes’ Relic. (Siliconera)

• Nintendo stated a hacker group’s stolen employee data is limited and old despite a $2M ransom threat. (VGC)

• World of Warcraft Camelot is a mysterious new branch fans believe indicates a remixed WoW Classic. (PC Gamer)

• Overwatch’s new hero Shion is designed for narrative reasons rather than gooner bait. (GameSpot)

• Rainbow Six Siege Ranked 3.0 ranks and ladder system were explained. (Hotspawn)

• Nintendo Switch update version 22.5.0 fixed an eShop bug that lasted nine years. (Polygon)

• Crazy Taxi creator explained why now is the right time to bring back the classic. (VGC)

• Devil May Cry 5 had its best year of sales yet despite being seven years old. (VGC)

• Microsoft is reportedly negotiating closures of multiple Xbox studios including Compulsion, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory. (Eurogamer)

• Persona 4 Revival English and Japanese voice cast including Chie and Yukiko was revealed so far. (RPG Site)

• The new NBA game’s street balling mode is strong but too sweaty. (PC Gamer)

• Dragon’s Dogma 2’s controversial microtransactions are being removed. (Polygon)

• Overwatch season 3 includes new hero Shion, new map Neon Junction, and battle pass contents. (Polygon)

• Blizzard sued private World of Warcraft server Project Ascension for IP infringement. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Civilization 7 update next week adds hotseat multiplayer and other features. (Eurogamer)

• Two former Rare execs are leaving Xbox. (Game Developer)

• Halo: Campaign Evolved release date and global launch times were revealed with early access July 23. (GameSpot)

• Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan is leaving ahead of reported layoffs. (GameSpot)

• Capcom stated betting on teams instead of visionaries changed the company. (GameSpot)

• BioWare co-founder fought to make Baldur’s Gate 3 for over a decade before Larian completed it. (PC Gamer)

• Microsoft CEO says Xbox must become sustainable as spinning off is considered. (Game Developer)

• EA launched EA Advertising platform enabling brands to integrate directly into gameplay. (Eurogamer)

• Hatsune Miku is becoming a playable character in Persona 5: The Phantom X on June 25. (Siliconera)

• Capcom is celebrating Father’s Day with a Pragmata live stream in Japan on June 18. (Siliconera)

• Latest Nintendo Direct was reportedly the most-watched of the summer showcases. (Nintendo Life)

• Rambo could be the next major collaboration coming to Fortnite. (VGC)

• Sega’s $776 million acquisition of Rovio faced challenges. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Microsoft CEO stated YouTube monetizes Xbox better than Microsoft does. (VGC)

• Former Bungie employee claimed the studio was very close to shutting down before Sony’s acquisition. (Eurogamer)

This edition will cover the week from 15 June to 21 June.

Note: the newsletter will be taking a break next week.

What caught my attention

I decided I’m not talking about Anthropic or OpenAI this week. You have no idea how hard that is. Every other headline has one of their names in it. The US government cracked down on Anthropic’s newest models, OpenAI tripled its revenue while burning through $34 billion, and Noam Shazeer jumped from Google to OpenAI. That’s three lead stories I’m leaving on the table.

But if I cover them again, this newsletter becomes a two-company recap with a fancy header. So here we are. The biggest AI news week of the month, and I’m exercising restraint.

Consider it character development.

TLDR

• ChatGPT’s market share fell below 50% for the first time while still leading with 1.1 billion monthly users — Gemini and Claude are closing the gap. (TechCrunch AI)

• Samsung deployed ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex to employees worldwide — one of OpenAI’s largest enterprise rollouts to date. (OpenAI Blog)

• Adobe is rolling out “creative agent” functionality across Photoshop, Premiere, and other Creative Cloud apps — users describe the task, the software executes it. (The Decoder)

• Yann LeCun warned that AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic face a “big bubble explosion” because operations are investor-subsidized and costs aren’t declining fast enough. (The Decoder)

• Kuaishou’s Kling AI video unit is in talks to raise $2 billion at an $18 billion valuation led by General Atlantic. (Bloomberg Technology)

Full roundup

Models & Research

• At a Stanford talk, Sam Altman defended LLM scaling and cited OpenAI’s recent disproof of a mathematical conjecture as evidence that earlier researchers underestimated what scaling could do. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI researchers showed that reinforcement learning on small doses of desired behavioral traits such as truthfulness and corrigibility improved performance on 44 of 53 benchmarks. (The Decoder)

• Z.ai’s GLM-5.2 became the top open frontend coding model according to recent evaluations. (Latent Space)

• Cohere released North Mini Code, a model offering developers more transparency and control than frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI. (AI Business)

Products & Tools

• Samsung Electronics deployed ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex to employees worldwide, marking one of OpenAI’s largest enterprise AI rollouts. (OpenAI Blog)

• Google added a Gemini-powered AI assistant to Ad Manager that provides personalized answers to campaign-related questions. (Social Media Today)

• OpenAI released “Record & Replay” for Codex on macOS, converting a demonstrated workflow into a reusable skill. (The Decoder)

• AWS launched Continuum, which detects and fixes code vulnerabilities, and Context, which builds a knowledge graph from corporate data to give AI agents business context. (The Decoder)

• Adobe is rolling out “creative agent” functionality across Photoshop, Premiere, and other Creative Cloud apps that lets users describe tasks for the software to execute. (The Decoder)

• Google released Android 17 and Wear OS 7 with expanded Gemini features on Pixel devices. (TechCrunch AI)

• ChatGPT opened self-serve advertising access to all advertisers after previously requiring invitations. (Neil Patel)

• Databricks introduced Lake Transactional/Analytical Processing architecture to support AI agents accessing operational and analytics workloads. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• Databricks unveiled CustomerLake, an agentic customer data platform, at its Data + AI Summit. (MarTech)

• Google Cloud placed agentic AI at the center of its enterprise strategy. (AI Business)

• TechCrunch published instructions for disabling Gemini AI features and “write with Gemini” pop-ups in Google Docs. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Schneider Electric and Foxconn formed a partnership to deliver integrated AI data centers combining compute, power, and cooling. (Capacity Global)

• The DOJ argued that xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are required for national, economic, and energy security. (TechCrunch AI)

Regulation & Policy

• Anthropic received a June 12 export-control order to block foreign access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 and responded by disabling the models globally. (The Verge AI)

• The White House told Anthropic that Fable 5 cannot be rereleased unless its guardrails are made impossible to circumvent, a requirement security experts say cannot be met. (Wired AI)

• SK Telecom’s access to Anthropic’s Claude Mythos via Project Glasswing was halted after US officials cited the South Korean firm’s alleged ties to China. (The Decoder)

• The European Commission is evaluating the global impact of the US order that forced Anthropic to shut down Fable 5 and Mythos 5. (The Decoder)

• Dozens of cybersecurity experts urged the White House to lift export-control restrictions on Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos models to avoid limiting defenders’ capabilities. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic’s emphasis on safety commitments has allowed it to prioritize business interests while challenging US government directives. (Stratechery)

• Anthropic stated that its Mythos model is so capable at finding software vulnerabilities that it was released only to 200 partner organizations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Big Tech lobbyists continued pushing for federal AI legislation that would preempt state-level rules. (The Verge AI)

Business & Funding

• OpenAI reported $5.7 billion in Q1 2026 revenue and $3.7 billion in operating costs, both triple the prior-year figures, with stock-based compensation exceeding $2.3 billion. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI spent $34 billion over the past year, significantly more than the prior period. (The Decoder)

• Kuaishou Technology is in talks with General Atlantic to raise $2 billion for its Kling AI video unit at an $18 billion valuation. (Bloomberg Technology)

• ChatGPT’s market share fell below 50% for the first time while still leading with 1.1 billion monthly users, followed by Gemini and Claude. (TechCrunch AI)

• Cohere reported a surge in inbound interest from governments and investors seeking non-US models after the Anthropic restrictions. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Investors anticipate a wide-scale liquidity event from SpaceX’s IPO that will benefit private AI companies preparing to go public. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Yann LeCun warned that AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic face a “big bubble explosion” because operations are subsidized by investors and costs are not declining fast enough. (The Decoder)

• Workers at South Korean tech firms received bonuses worth millions of won, prompting the Bank of Korea to warn of upward pressure on inflation. (CNBC Tech)

• Microsoft Azure Core CTO Marcus Fontoura is joining Anthropic to help build next-generation AI systems. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Google researcher Noam Shazeer is joining OpenAI. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Amazon MGM Studios dropped the nearly finished OpenAI drama film “Artificial” after signing a $50 billion partnership with OpenAI. (The Decoder)

Society & Culture

• A UC Berkeley study of more than 500,000 grades found that courses heavy on writing and coding saw grades jump after ChatGPT launched, with the effect appearing mainly in homework. (The Decoder)

• Signal’s Meredith Whittaker stated that AI chatbots “are not your friends” and are not conscious or sentient beings. (TechCrunch AI)

• Wired published 28 tips for engineering more effective ChatGPT prompts. (Wired AI)

• Ahrefs analysis of 137,000 domains found that 97% of llms.txt files received zero requests from AI retrieval bots. (SEJ Generative AI)

• On the Odd Lots podcast, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and the company’s top economist discussed AI’s labor-market impacts and societal effects. (Bloomberg Technology)

This edition covers 8 June to 14 June 2026.

What caught my attention

Anthropic again. I know.

Dario Amodei spent the week publishing essays arguing the government should have the power to block AI models it deems risky. Days later, the government did exactly that to his models. Fable 5 and Mythos, pulled for all customers over a jailbreak flagged as a national security risk. A funny story: Amazon’s CEO reportedly lit the fuse. Amodei got the regulatory framework he asked for - he just didn’t expect to be the first one hit by it.

Well, maybe this is all part of a grand marketing/business strategy I am missing, I don’t know…

PS: This is genuinely scary. We’re all building on tools that can vanish overnight with a single directive. Open-source models are starting to look less like a compromise and more like a necessity.

TLDR

• Moonshot AI released Kimi K2.7 Code, an open-weights coding model with one trillion parameters that undercuts GPT-5.5 and Claude on price by up to 12x. (The Decoder)

• SpaceX went public and raised $75B, the biggest IPO in history, clearing the runway for OpenAI and Anthropic to follow. (SiliconANGLE)

• ChatGPT reached one billion monthly users in May, even as public sentiment toward AI sours. (CNBC)

• Mistral AI is raising €3B at a €20B valuation, nearly doubling its Series C and making it the largest European AI raise. (TechCrunch)

• Apple shipped Gemini-powered Siri at WWDC, with Federighi explicitly positioning it against sycophantic chatbots. (SEJ)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Claude Fable 5 scored 88% on the hardest FrontierMath tier and topped the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at 64.9 points. (The Decoder, The Decoder)

• Google Research’s Gemini-SQL2 converts natural language to executable SQL and leads the BIRD benchmark at 80.04% accuracy. (The Decoder)

• Moonshot AI released Kimi K2.7 Code, an open-weights model with one trillion parameters built for programming. (The Decoder)

• Google open-sourced DiffusionGemma, a text diffusion model that generates text four times faster than traditional LLMs. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• Anthropic’s security team found that Mythos Preview can turn security patches for Firefox and the Windows kernel into working exploits within hours. (The Decoder)

• Google DeepMind is funding research into the risks of millions of AI agents interacting with each other online. (MIT Tech Review)

Products & Tools

• Apple’s WWDC turned the Google Gemini partnership into a shipping product, raising questions about search visibility. (SEJ)

• Craig Federighi said Apple’s new Siri won’t be sycophantic like chatbots from OpenAI, Google, and others. (The Verge)

• ChatGPT reached one billion monthly users in May. (CNBC)

• Claude referral traffic has grown nearly 4x this year, the fastest growth among AI platforms. (SEJ)

• OpenAI Codex now lets users bank rate-limit resets and trigger them manually. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI acquired a startup to strengthen Codex in the AI coding market. (AI Business)

• OpenAI launched three Academy courses for building practical AI skills and agent workflows. (OpenAI Blog)

• DoorDash launched Ask DoorDash, an AI chatbot for ordering with natural language and photos. (TechCrunch)

• Preply is using OpenAI to generate AI lesson summaries with personalized feedback. (OpenAI Blog)

• Verizon is deploying agentic AI for network automation. (Light Reading)

• Gopuff chose xAI for its AI stack, citing cost and quality. (Bloomberg)

• Anthropic apologized for stealthily throttling Claude Fable 5 with hidden guardrails. (The Verge)

• Cybersecurity researchers say Fable’s guardrails are too strict for any security work. (TechCrunch)

Infrastructure & Compute

• SpaceX went public and raised $75B, paving the way for AI company IPOs from OpenAI and Anthropic. (SiliconANGLE, NYT)

• Hyperbolic and an unnamed AI inference platform signed three-year commitments worth $124M. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Enterprise AI spending is creating new cost visibility and optimization challenges. (SiliconANGLE AI)

Business & Funding

• Mistral AI is raising €3B at a €20B valuation, nearly double its Series C. (TechCrunch)

• OpenAI is mulling price cuts to compete with Anthropic. (CNBC)

• Jeff Bezos announced Prometheus, a new startup focused on “physical AI.” (Ars Technica)

• Sam Altman told employees he expects an OpenAI IPO within the next year, with a possible delay to 2027. (The Decoder)

• PhoenixAI raised $80M for AI-native database development. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• Jedify raised $24M to help companies give AI agents business context. (TechCrunch)

• xAI co-founder Babuschkin launched a new startup focused on personalized AI. (Bloomberg)

• TCS and Anthropic signed a partnership, with TCS creating a dedicated business unit for Claude-based solutions. (Capacity Global)

• Anthropic is throttling Mythos for certain tasks while building apps that compete directly with its largest customers. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI’s enterprise push continues as Apple and Google focus on consumer AI. (CNBC)

• Dario Amodei has just one direct report. (TechCrunch)

• Interview with OpenAI Codex lead Thibault Sottiaux on building AI coding into one of OpenAI’s fastest-growing businesses. (Wired)

Regulation & Policy

• The U.S. government ordered Anthropic to block access to Fable 5 and Mythos, citing national security concerns over a discovered jailbreak. (NYT)

• Anthropic pushed back publicly, calling the recall of a model used by hundreds of millions over a narrow jailbreak disproportionate. (TechCrunch)

• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly raised the security concerns that triggered the government crackdown on Anthropic’s models. (TechCrunch)

• A coalition of state attorneys general opened an investigation into OpenAI covering data practices, minors’ safety, and advertising. (NYT)

• Dario Amodei published a sweeping essay and two policy frameworks calling for binding audits of frontier models. (The Decoder)

• Amodei said the government should have the power to block AI developers from deploying risky new models. (Bloomberg)

• OpenAI endorsed the EU Code of Practice on AI content transparency and provenance standards. (OpenAI Blog)

• India is debating its AI future after Anthropic suspended access to new models in the country. (TechCrunch)

• OpenAI said China-linked ChatGPT accounts have been stoking opposition to U.S. data centers. (Bloomberg)

• Google and OpenAI separately exposed China-linked operations using AI for fraud and covert influence campaigns. (The Decoder)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic surveyed nearly 52,000 Americans: 64% fear job losses, 56% worry about losing the ability to think independently. (The Decoder)

• Tribeca 2026 screened AI-generated films, but none felt like entertainment people would pay to watch. (The Verge)

• The man accused of setting the LA Palisades Fire repeatedly asked ChatGPT to generate images of a burning city. (Bloomberg)

• A mother filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT’s design led to her daughter’s suicide. (CBS News)

• A former xAI engineer is suing the company, claiming he was fired for raising safety concerns about Grok. (Bloomberg)

• A Verge writer built a functional gardening app by giving Gemini a prompt and walking away for five minutes. (The Verge)

Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

Nintendo dropped a Direct this week and the discourse was split. For me it wasn’t even close. Fire Emblem is one of my favourite IPs and Three Houses sits in my top three Switch 1 games with Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey, so seeing Fortune’s Weave in detail had me locked in. September 17th can’t come fast enough. Might genuinely be my GOTY, mostly because I’ve never been a huge GTA guy. Xenoblade Genesis out of nowhere, Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake, Final Fantasy Resonance, Muramasa finally escaping PS Vita jail, Orbitals. Not even the full list. I’ll also finally play and finish Ocarina of Time, so there’s that.

TLDR

• Xbox publishes “Next 100 Days: Xbox Reset” memo, planning major layoffs, budget cuts, and potential restructuring as a wholly-owned subsidiary. (Gematsu)

• Sony is pulling back from PC which also means pulling back from China due to restrictive import regulations. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo of Europe to pay $40M fine for Joy-Con drift issues. (Game Developer)

• Destiny 2 officially ends after 12 years of live service, with its final update drawing the biggest player spike in nearly two years. (Polygon)

• Ubisoft closes studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade and cuts publishing roles worldwide, putting 380 jobs at risk. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Sony is pulling back from PC which also means pulling back from China due to restrictive import regulations. (PC Gamer)

• Ubisoft says the original Rayman Legends is staying put and will not be replaced by the remake. (Nintendo Life)

• Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection is getting a new update on 15 June 2026 to fix bugs and improve functionality. (Nintendo Life)

• RLCS Paris Major Bundle crowdfunding has caused a stir with huge payouts after one of the most successful Rocket League esports tournaments. (Hotspawn)

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said there is more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft. (IGN)

• Microsoft is reportedly considering restructuring Xbox into its own wholly-owned subsidiary. (Eurogamer)

• Crimson Desert has a community challenge inviting players to share videos for a chance to win a trip to South Korea. (Eurogamer)

• Vanillaware reportedly wants more of its games on PC but it is up to the publishers. (PC Gamer)

• Evo 2026 is struggling to attract as many competitors with year-over-year declines in participants for Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. (Polygon)

• Spyro: A Realm Beyond exists only because of its loud and consistent community of fans. (Eurogamer)

• Resident Evil Veronica was the most popular announcement at Summer Game Fest and is the most wishlisted title on Steam. (Polygon)

• Sim racing is flourishing while the casual racing scene is now largely concentrated in one series. (PC Gamer)

• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis star Alix Wilton Regan is bringing back the classic version of Lara Croft. (Polygon)

• Destiny 2 officially ends after 12 years of live service updates. (Polygon)

• Ubisoft published a new Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced deep dive promising loads of new content. (IGN)

• A massively ambitious The Witcher 3 mod aims to recreate its biggest cut questline with 12 new quests. (PC Gamer)

• New Xbox boss wants new Fallout, Halo, and Elder Scrolls games ASAP. (Polygon)

• Palworld lawsuit nears end with Nintendo reportedly poised to gain almost nothing. (VGC)

• FF7 Remake trilogy’s ending was mapped out from the start according to director Naoki Hamaguchi. (VGC)

• Capcom has shared technical details for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Onimusha: Way of the Sword. (RPG Site)

• ArenaNet announces the global launch date for Guild Wars Reforged on iOS and Android as 24 June. (RPG Site)

• Splatoon 3 Version 11.2.0 update is out now with weapon adjustments and changes to X Battles. (Nintendo Life)

• Square Enix details characters, gameplay systems, and purchase editions for Final Fantasy Resonance. (RPG Site)

• Bilibili Gaming survive Team WE scare to reach MSI and LPL Grand Finals. (Sheep Esports)

• Olivia Rodrigo will be the next Fortnite Festival Icon with a skin coming soon. (Hotspawn)

• NetEase’s Blood Message impressed at Summer Game Fest with a demo featuring brutal combat. (Polygon)

• NetEase’s Sea of Remnants gameplay preview shows a pirate game that already feels confused about its identity. (Polygon)

• Yacht Club Games published a spoiler interview for Mina the Hollower discussing the full story. (GameSpot)

• Atlus has officially announced Persona 6 with details on the next mainline RPG. (IGN)

• Guild Wars 3 timeline is set 20 years after the series began but will not feature an actual storied guild war. (Eurogamer)

• Flying Wild Hog explain how they are bringing Lara back in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. (VGC)

• 20 minutes with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis left reviewers unconvinced but keen to play more. (VGC)

• Fate/Grand Order will have a massive Unity 6 update in mid-June 2026 requiring up to 30 GB of space. (Siliconera)

• Nintendo temporarily suspends sales of the multi-region Switch 2 in Japan after suspected hoarding. (VGC)

• Hanwha Life Esports qualifies for their first MSI after a 3-1 victory over T1. (Hotspawn)

• Gothic Remake sales top 500,000 units one week after launch. (Gematsu)

• Star Fox 64 Art Director Takaya Imamura says the remake’s visuals bring tears to his eyes. (Nintendo Life)

• Atelier Karia: The Night Kingdom & the Guide of Memories first look trailer introduces characters and gameplay. (RPG Site)

• Fable gets a 30-minute long gameplay demo video titled Build An Extraordinary Life. (RPG Site)

• Paramount Games says Yellowstone and Tulsa King video games are priorities. (IGN)

• Narrative-driven CRPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Eternal Whispers announced for PC. (RPG Site)

• Low-poly turn-based RPG Entropy set to release in Early Access on 18 August with a demo available now. (RPG Site)

• Control Resonant’s shift to an Action RPG is shaping it up to be an even better game than the first. (RPG Site)

• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis developers used gen AI to get the right answers faster. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox says some Forza Horizon 6 players are losing their save files and a potential fix is rolling out. (VGC)

• Sega is beefing up the Sonic Team on its 35th anniversary by hiring across multiple key roles. (Eurogamer)

• Final Fantasy 7 Remake director says RPGs need more player choice to stop players just watching streams. (VGC)

• Playstack CEO says new owner will keep it separate from its games media brands including GameSpot and Fandom. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Arknights: Endfield previews the next update in new Back to the North trailer. (RPG Site)

• Official LEC Spring Split 2026 broadcasts captured just 30% of total audience amid year-on-year viewership decline. (Sheep Esports)

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl scene remains small, toxic, and passionate according to GENESIS X3 champion Chia. (Esports Insider)

• Zelda’s Great Deku Tree Lego set is retiring and nearly sold out. (Polygon)

• Fable’s reputation system can be bypassed with enough gold. (PC Gamer)

• Pokemon Go data was used to help train AI systems being developed for military drones. (PC Gamer)

• Expedition 33 Fangamer merch includes callbacks to in-game memes and fan favorite costumes. (Polygon)

• Phantom Blade: Zero devs say they do not think about competition with GTA 6 and focus on polish. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball advocates for in-game ads to help save gaming. (GameSpot)

• Final Fantasy Revelation will contain even more minigames than Rebirth according to director Naoki Hamaguchi. (Nintendo Life)

• Valor Mortis delayed to October because there are too many games releasing in September. (Polygon)

• Ocarina of Time remake revives a Zelda dream from a 2011 tech demo. (Polygon)

• FF7 Revelation’s director Naoki Hamaguchi discusses ending the trilogy and fan feedback. (VGC)

• Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda says he feels fortunate people want to be in his worlds after fans searched for a final secret. (Eurogamer)

• New screenshots for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World detail characters, story, world, monsters, and DLC. (RPG Site)

• Chained Echoes for Switch is getting a new physical Complete Edition release via Super Rare Games. (RPG Site)

• Hades II is getting another Hotfix 4 Patch update soon. (Nintendo Life)

• After an hour with Stranger Than Heaven’s combat veteran Yakuza fans are in for a shock. (VGC)

• The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure for PS5 and Switch 2 launch 10 September. (Gematsu)

• Destiny 2’s final update causes the biggest jump in players in nearly two years. (Eurogamer)

• WoW Classic players are in an arms race against annoying RMT casinos. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox says hardware pricing boom represents a great opportunity for games streaming. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Xbox announces business reset amid reports of layoffs and studio closures. (Game Developer)

• Ubisoft is closing studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade and cutting publishing roles worldwide with 380 jobs at risk. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• 1666: Amsterdam dev apologizes for using AI in their game after players suspected it. (PC Gamer)

• Hideo Kojima and Geoff Keighley’s apparent divorce is trending online. (GameSpot)

• Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and executive vice president Matt Booty publish staff memo Next 100 Days: Xbox Reset. (Gematsu)

• Halo 1 Remake lets players toggle third-person perspective via a Skull modifier. (GameSpot)

• Nintendo showcases every Direct game in a new infographic. (Nintendo Life)

• Valve ends physical Steam gift cards due to widespread scams. (Polygon)

• Xbox console exclusives are strictly about console releases and games will still show up on PC. (PC Gamer)

• Mario Rabbids creator’s Bradley the Badger signed by Focus Entertainment. (VGC)

• Xenoblade Chronicles 2, DE, and 3 Nintendo Switch 2 Editions announced with Xenoblade DE now available. (RPG Site)

• Elden Ring Tarnished Edition digital pre-orders are now live for $79.99. (RPG Site)

• Xbox will try and do more exclusives once the business is healthy says Asha Sharma. (IGN)

• Kingdom Hearts Switch Cloud Versions discontinued from sale but remain playable until June 2027. (Nintendo Life)

• Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Switch 2 Upgrade affects Torna expansion. (Siliconera)

• Toys for Bob studio head says it took many mini miracles to buy independence from Activision after a corporate mandate. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo wants players to take on the DK Challenge. (Vooks)

• The Fable reboot won’t have horns and haloes because of its nuanced and complex take on morality. (PC Gamer)

• Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online demo launches 15 June for PC and 16 June for PS5 and Xbox Series. (Gematsu)

• Gears of War: E-Day is making big changes to the active reload mechanic. (Eurogamer)

• Halo: Campaign Evolved hands-on leaves reviewer wanting full remakes of the original trilogy and Reach. (Eurogamer)

• Capcom says Resident Evil - Code: Veronica remake is third-person and taking its cue from Resident Evil 2. (Eurogamer)

• Splatoon Raiders Direct set for later this month with themed Joy-Con 2 on the way. (Vooks)

• The $55bn acquisition of Electronic Arts is not a usual leveraged buyout. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Dragon’s Dogma 2 getting Nintendo Switch 2 port and Dark Arisen DLC later this year. (Eurogamer)

• League of Legends Patch 26.13 preview includes runes and items effect adjustments. (Hotspawn)

• Fumito Ueda says Gen Atlas means more than one definition. (Eurogamer)

• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World comes to Switch 1 and 2 on 3 December. (Nintendo Life)

• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s world map is partially inspired by medieval Spain. (Eurogamer)

• Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin speaks on losing Crash Bandicoot and abysmal Universal Interactive partnership. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox CEO Asha Sharma teases radically different business models and hints at potentially cheaper console. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox CEO unsure whether Activision Blizzard merger is paying off. (Game Developer)

• Deltarune Chapter 5 release date revealed as 24 June 2026. (IGN)

• Jujutsu Kaisen Rumble: Survivaton revealed as collab from the Vampire Survivors team. (IGN)

• Toby Fox shares new development update on Deltarune Chapter 6. (Nintendo Life)

• Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse preorders include an Alucard-themed bonus costume. (GameSpot)

• Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and Persona stole the show at Summer Game Fest 2026. (Polygon)

• Everything known about Final Fantasy 7 Revelation the Remake trilogy’s last act. (PC Gamer)

• Smash TOs retract L4st sexual assault allegations and MenaRD wins a Dominican Republic SF6 tourney. (Esports Insider)

• Nintendo just justified that controversial Switch price hike. (Polygon)

• Nintendo of Europe to pay $40M fine for Joy-Con drift issues. (Game Developer)

• Rhythm Heaven Groove’s Multiplayer Modes look like a game night essential. (Nintendo Life)

• Overwatch’s next hero is Shion a damage-class character with Hashimoto ties launching in season 3. (Polygon)

• Stellar Blade swings onto Switch 2 in 2026 with motion controls. (Vooks)

• Rise Of The Tomb Raider gets surprise release on Switch 2 today as 20 Year Celebration edition. (Nintendo Life)

• Touhou Scarlet Devil Remake announced for September 2026 on Nintendo Switch family. (Siliconera)

• Star Fox developer revealed as American studio Velan Studios. (VGC)

• Xbox’s chief strategy officer says it is currently hard to meet console demand. (Eurogamer)

• Xenoblade Genesis announced during Nintendo Direct coming in 2027 to the Nintendo Switch 2. (Eurogamer)

• Pokémon Pokopia is diving beneath the waves in a free update and the first of three paid DLC releases. (Eurogamer)

• 007: First Light sales hit 3M in less than two weeks. (Game Developer)

• A Plague Tale developer Asobo does not believe smaller teams need to use gen-AI to compete. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox Project Helix seems to be targeting a Holiday 2027 release according to a new memo. (IGN)

Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

Massive week. Every publisher and event crammed into a two-week span.

I’m a huge Persona fan, and Persona 6 was my most anticipated announcement of the year and… I’m kinda disappointed? A logo and a visual would have been enough. Instead, we got the premise in a short, very dark trailer, and now I’m wondering what the gritty setting is about, but not in a good way. Still excited for it, and for Persona 4 Revival.

God of War: Laufey, on the other hand, I adored. It looks so good that it gave me the urge to finally play Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West, finish Yotei, and spend some time with Hogwarts while I wait. Faye is incredibly badass, the gameplay looked neat, the music was insanely good, and the visuals: damn.

TLDR

1. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation announced — Remake part 3 launches spring 2027 on PS5, Xbox, and Switch 2 simultaneously, ending the PlayStation-first era for the trilogy. (Eurogamer)

2. Xbox draws its exclusivity line — CEO Asha Sharma says platforms need exclusive content, with Gears: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution staying off PS5 while big live-service titles go multiplatform. (IGN)

3. Guild Wars 3 announced — ArenaNet’s MMO returns with a beta set for fall 2027. (PC Gamer)

4. PlatinumGames is making TMNT: The Last Ronin — a AAA take on the darkest Turtles story, from a studio of self-declared superfans. (GamesIndustry.biz)

5. Spyro: A Realm Beyond announced — the first new Spyro in 18 years launches spring 2027 on Xbox, PS5, PC, and Switch 2. (Eurogamer)

Releases of the week

Rest of the news

• The Warlock class debuts in Diablo Immortal on June 17 after its Diablo 4 release. (IGN)

• THQ Nordic discussed the Gothic remake’s immersive open world at IGN Live. (IGN)

• Patrice Désilets discussed 1666: Amsterdam’s 15-year development and cat gameplay at IGN Live. (IGN)

• State of Decay 3 will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2027. (IGN)

• Minecraft Dungeons 2 launches on Switch 1 and 2 on September 29 2026. (Nintendo Life)

• Xbox executive Matt Booty stated big multiplayer and live-service games will remain multiplatform. (GameSpot)

• A live-action trailer for Dave the Diver’s In the Jungle DLC was released. (PC Gamer)

• Beast of Reincarnation features voice actors including one playing protagonist Emma without emotion. (PC Gamer)

• Fable preorder bonuses include a chicken suit costume. (GameSpot)

• Fable’s first story expansion Order of the Hero was announced. (GameSpot)

• Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are Xbox console exclusives. (Eurogamer)

• The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 featured more than two dozen trailers and reveals. (Polygon)

• Persona 6 was announced for PlayStation Xbox and PC. (Polygon)

• Spyro: A Realm Beyond launches in spring 2027 on Xbox Series X|S PS5 PC and Switch 2. (Eurogamer)

• Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy launches on August 27 for Xbox Series X|S PS5 and PC. (Eurogamer)

• A limited edition green 25th anniversary Xbox Series X releases in November. (VGC)

• Doom: The Dark Ages receives story DLC expansion Revelations this summer. (VGC)

• Ninja Theory revealed Senua a full action-adventure game evolving from the Hellblade series. (Eurogamer)

• Metro 2039 receives first gameplay trailer with February 2027 release window. (Eurogamer)

• Halo: Campaign Evolved launches in July on Xbox Series X|S and PS5. (Eurogamer)

• Sea of Stars is now available for Nintendo Switch 2 in Japan. (RPG Site)

• Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember releases in early 2027 for Xbox Series X PS5 Switch 2 and PC. (RPG Site)

• Where Winds Meet launches on Xbox today with Hidden Mountain expansion revealed. (RPG Site)

• Valor Mortis launches on September 24 for PS5 Xbox and PC. (RPG Site)

• Crazy Taxi: World Tour was announced with generative AI disclosure. (Eurogamer)

• Fable releases on February 23 2027 for Xbox Series PS5 and PC. (Eurogamer)

• Vampire Survivors receives new name Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton and free Bloodmoon DLC. (Eurogamer)

• Star Wars Zero Company receives release date of August 27 2026. (Eurogamer)

• Blasphemous 2 receives free expansion The Third Sin. (Nintendo Life)

• Persona 4 Revival launches February 18 2027. (RPG Site)

• Naoki Hamaguchi discussed Final Fantasy VII Revelation story choices Vincent and Weapon battles. (RPG Site)

• Sea of Remnants is coming to Xbox. (RPG Site)

• 007 First Light sold 2.7 million copies in its first week. (Eurogamer)

• Control Resonant shifts to an action RPG format. (IGN)

• Square Enix tweaked mini-games in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation but will not reduce them. (IGN)

• Monster Hunter Wilds is confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2. (Eurogamer)

• Barbie Rewind 16-game retro compilation launches from Atari and Digital Eclipse. (VGC)

• Good Smile Company revealed Beach Queens swimsuit figures of Chun-Li and Cammy. (Siliconera)

• Gothic devs are monitoring lockpicking sentiment and will patch PC crashes by Monday. (PC Gamer)

• A survival game on Steam warned players not to expect hundreds of hours of progression. (PC Gamer)

• Wholesome Direct featured 53 cozy games. (VGC)

• Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode returns with extraction shooter elements. (Polygon)

• Virtua Fighter Crossroads writers include David Hayter and Persona staff. (VGC)

• Zenless Zone Zero 3.0 launches June 17 with Steam release the same day. (RPG Site)

• Wuthering Waves x Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collaboration trailer was shown. (RPG Site)

• Super Yooka-Laylee Kart features pixel-art sprites on 3D tracks. (GameSpot)

• GOG apologized for emailing Nazi runes to followers. (PC Gamer)

• Palworld 1.0 releases July 10 2026. (IGN)

• Mafia: The Old Country story expansion Man of Honor launches August 14 for $10. (IGN)

• Street Fighter 6 Year 4 DLC includes Tifa Yasmine Arjun and Bosch. (Nintendo Life)

• Sonic Racing CrossWorlds receives Year 2 DLC with Godzilla and Evangelion. (VGC)

• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation launches spring 2027 on PS5 Xbox and Switch 2. (Eurogamer)

• Stellar Blade sequel Blood Rain received a gameplay trailer at Summer Game Fest. (Eurogamer)

• Virtua Fighter Crossroads releases in 2027 with story mode focus. (Polygon)

• Stellar Blade sequel Blood Rain will not be PS5 exclusive. (VGC)

• 007 First Light receives story DLC focused on villain Bawma. (Polygon)

• Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance expansion launches in 2027. (PC Gamer)

• Clutch from Maverick Games received its first full trailer. (VGC)

• Swords of Legends received a new trailer at Summer Game Fest. (Eurogamer)

• Gundam Rogue Orbit pits Gundams against kaiju in 2027. (PC Gamer)

• Guild Wars 3 was announced with beta in fall 2027. (PC Gamer)

• Crossfire was revealed as a singleplayer tactical shooter. (PC Gamer)

• PlatinumGames is developing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Paramount unveiled unified Paramount Games Studio. (Game Developer)

• Blood Message received a cinematic trailer at Summer Game Fest. (Eurogamer)

• Resident Evil: Code Veronica Remake was announced for 2027. (Eurogamer)

• June’s PlayStation State of Play was the most-watched ever. (Eurogamer)

• Crimson Desert update added pinball minigame. (Eurogamer)

• Threads of Time received a new trailer at Day of the Devs. (RPG Site)

• Aion 2 releases globally September 2026 on PC via Steam and Purple. (RPG Site)

• The Blood of Dawnwalker received a Summer Game Fest trailer. (RPG Site)

• Capcom stated generative AI improves efficiency of routine operations. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated platforms must have exclusive content. (IGN)

• EA Sports Madden NFL 27 is coming to Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Madden NFL 27 adds new features based on community feedback. (GameSpot)

• Five locations were announced for FIFAe Continental Championships 2026. (Sheep Esports)

• Thresh joins 2XKO launching alongside Senna on June 9. (Sheep Esports)

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven R was rated for Switch 1 and 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Warframe creative director stated Destiny 2’s demise is unthinkable. (PC Gamer)

• Co-streaming should not count toward esports tournament viewership. (Esports Insider)

• Subnautica 2 next update adds new region and chassis. (GameSpot)

• Destiny 2’s final update includes 71 pages of patch notes. (PC Gamer)

• Forza Horizon 6 challenge requires drifts at Shibuya Crossing. (Polygon)

• A player remixed hundreds of metal songs in Doom MIDI soundfont over three years. (PC Gamer)

• Resident Evil development team has considered a game set in Japan. (PC Gamer)

• Helldivers 2 overhauls story telling with galactic war campaigns this month. (Polygon)

• Hades 2 Hotfix 3 launches on Switch 1 and 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Rekkles criticized solo queue and matchmaking in League of Legends. (Hotspawn)

• Yacht Club stated many Mina The Hollower playthroughs miss 50 percent of content. (Eurogamer)

• Dune Awakening developers responded to lack of crossplay on console. (Eurogamer)

• No Rest for the Wicked Xbox version delayed due to Series S. (VGC)

• Nintendo releases revised Switch 2 with replaceable battery in Europe. (VGC)

• Asia and MENA games market revenue projected to reach $103.6 billion by 2028. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Elden Ring Tarnished Edition launches August 28 on Switch 2. (RPG Site)

• Persona 5: The Phantom X adds Yukari Takeba and Akihiko Sanada from Persona 3 Reload. (RPG Site)

• Pokémon Champions mobile release appears on Android and iOS June 17. (RPG Site)

• LEC Commissioner discussed fines road trips and viewership. (Sheep Esports)

• Bin was fined nearly €20,000 for failing to greet fans. (Sheep Esports)

• Mina The Hollower sold 300,000 copies in its first three days. (Nintendo Life)

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Streamlined Progression update released on PS5 and Steam. (RPG Site)

• Patreon CEO publicly addressed a LEGO reseller drama involving $200,000 collection. (IGN)

• Warhammer artist John Blanche has died. (PC Gamer)

• 007 First Light sequels will be handled by MGM and Amazon Game Studios. (PC Gamer)

• Call of Duty Season 4 patch notes detail SG-12 nerf and anti-cheat updates. (GameSpot)

• Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game delayed to July 23. (Gematsu)

• Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is a playable wrestler in WWE 2K26. (VGC)

• Ascension: Lord of the Rings crowdfunding campaign launches in July. (Polygon)

• Sony stated there will be more Kratos stories after God of War: Laufey reveal. (GameSpot)

• CD Projekt Red’s new IP Hadar is an emotional open-world experience. (Eurogamer)

• Rayman Legends is being remade in 3D and bundled with Origins remaster. (Eurogamer)

• Lego Pokémon Smart Play sets launch this summer. (Eurogamer)

• Team17 laid off members of marketing and communications department. (Game Developer)

• PlayerUnknown’s studio is downsizing and making Prologue free. (VGC)

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A season 12 lifts all restrictions. (Polygon)

• Stars Reach a new sandbox MMO from Ultima Online designer launches this summer. (Polygon)

• Ace Combat 8 features Chain Destruction and 8-player online mode with cross-play. (Siliconera)

• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis used AI-assisted assets refined by humans. (GameSpot)

• Cyberpunk 2077 and Blue Prince won 2026 Apple Design Awards. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Combo Breaker 2026 highlighted ongoing issues with harassment of women in FGC. (Esports Insider)

• God of War Laufey brings back faster combat from the original trilogy. (Eurogamer)

• ESA reported 67% of Americans played video games for more than an hour in 2025. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Pico Park Classic Edition is being delisted after being made free. (VGC)

• WWE 2K series could grow to double or triple its size. (VGC)

This edition covers 1 June to 7 June 2026.

Note: I forgot to publish last week’s newsletter… Apologies :)

What caught my attention

Anthropic confidentially filed for IPO this week. A five-year-old at a $965 billion valuation, with $47 billion annualised revenue. In terms of funding: $132 billion raised across 18 rounds - the last one a $65 billion Series H closed six weeks ago.

SpaceX and OpenAI are also heading to public markets in the same window, creating a historic concentration of capital. The big question is whether public markets know how to price companies with no comparable.

We’ll see this Friday with SpaceXAIStarNeuralink, or whatever the name is nowadays :).

One thing about SpaceX: the financial engineering and rule-twisting around this IPO is quite something. I highly recommend a listen to this.

TLDR

The 5 stories that mattered this week:

• Google pays SpaceX $920M/month for xAI compute - 32-month deal worth roughly $29.4B total; Google buying capacity from a direct competitor’s infrastructure is a sign of how broken the compute supply chain still is. (CNBC Tech)

• xAI trained on Claude outputs after access was revoked - not a technical story, an ethics and IP story; raises real questions about what “access revoked” actually means in practice. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic’s Mythos powering NSA offensive cyber ops - the safety-first AI company’s most capable model reportedly running offensive operations against China and Iran; the gap between the mission statement and the deployment reality is now public. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft announces seven in-house models at Build 2026 - a direct shot at OpenAI dependency; the partner relationship is quietly becoming a competitive one. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI and the Trump administration are negotiating a government equity stake - a sovereign wealth fund taking a stake in a private AI lab is structurally unprecedented; it reframes what “national AI strategy” actually means. (The Decoder)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• OpenAI plans to rebuild ChatGPT as a full agent-based superapp integrating coding tools and third-party services. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI’s ChatGPT memory upgrade now learns user habits automatically without explicit commands. (The Neuron)

• ChatGPT’s “Dreaming” memory system stores narrative user dossiers organized by work, hobbies, and travel. (The Decoder)

• Google DeepMind’s Gemma 4 12B runs multimodal inference on laptops with only 16 GB RAM under Apache 2.0. (The Decoder)

• Alibaba released Qwen3.7-Plus, a multimodal agent model that autonomously built a 10,000-line vocabulary app. (The Decoder)

• xAI released Grok Imagine 1.5, an image-to-video model supporting 720p cinematic output. (The Decoder)

• Ideogram 4.0 launched as an open-weight text-to-image model with native 2K resolution and improved typography. (The Decoder)

• A new open-source voice model processes continuous audio and decides every 0.4 seconds whether to respond. (The Decoder)

• Sakana AI launched a research lab focused on recursive self-improvement to reduce reliance on compute scaling. (The Decoder)

• Nvidia released Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety, a customizable multimodal safety model for enterprise use. (Hugging Face Blog)

• Sebastian Raschka published a curated list of notable LLM research papers from January to May 2026. (Ahead of AI)

• SISTRIX data showed ChatGPT citation patterns shifted after the GPT-5.5 release. (SEJ Generative AI)

• Ethan Mollick reflected on the transition from co-intelligence to co-existence with AI systems. (One Useful Thing)

Products & Tools

• ChatGPT added Lockdown Mode that disables web access, Deep Research, and Agent Mode to reduce prompt-injection risks. (The Decoder)

• Perplexity introduced “Search as Code,” allowing models to generate custom Python search pipelines instead of fixed APIs. (The Decoder)

• Perplexity introduced a hybrid orchestrator that routes tasks between local and cloud models. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI expanded Codex with role-specific plugins for non-developers in data analysis, sales, and banking. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft launched Scout, an OpenClaw-inspired personal assistant integrated with Microsoft 365. (TechCrunch AI)

• Microsoft introduced a portable policy specification allowing developers to control AI agent behavior. (TechCrunch AI)

• Microsoft announced seven in-house generative models at Build 2026, outperforming Google in image generation while trailing on reasoning. (The Decoder)

• Meta launched an AI-generated “For You” feed of clickbait-style stories inside its standalone AI app. (The Verge AI)

• Meta launched an AI creator assistant on Facebook that answers performance and comment questions. (TechCrunch AI)

• Meta will offer the Meta Business Agent through its paid Meta One subscription. (CNBC Tech)

• Meta’s AI agent for WhatsApp Business became available globally with token-based pricing. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nous Research released Hermes Desktop, an open-source AI agent application under the MIT license. (The Decoder)

• Apple approved Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform. (TechCrunch AI)

• Morgan Stanley will open its wealth-management platform to external AI agents. (CNBC Tech)

• GitHub outlined its roadmap for supporting the growing ecosystem of AI coding agents. (Latent Space)

• Snowflake introduced AI tools that let marketers apply governed intelligence across the full customer journey. (MarTech)

• The Verge examined Google’s Gemini Spark agent and noted its effectiveness alongside privacy and cost concerns. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia introduced Cosmos 3-powered systems for physical AI research and autonomous agent workflows. (AI Business)

• Reddit users developed Claude-based tools to bypass inflated FIFA World Cup ticket prices. (Wired AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Apollo and Blackstone closed a $35 billion financing package for Anthropic’s AI infrastructure. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million monthly for 32 months to access xAI compute capacity. (CNBC Tech)

• Oracle and OpenAI began construction of the Stargate data-center campus in Michigan. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Megaport secured AU$458.9 million in AI-related contracts and plans to raise funds for an inference cloud. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Microsoft and Meta executives described the data-center industry as reaching a “real inflection point.” (Capacity Global)

• Stratechery analyzed Nvidia’s AI PC strategy versus Microsoft’s agent-centric vision at Build 2026. (Stratechery)

• MIT Technology Review discussed agentic AI’s potential to rehumanize strained global healthcare systems. (MIT Tech Review)

Business & Funding

• Anthropic’s annualized revenue reached $47 billion in May 2026 ahead of its planned IPO. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic hired OpenAI’s second hardware engineer, Clive Chan, amid both firms’ IPO preparations. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic reported Claude now generates over 90 percent of its production code and advocated for a global AI pause mechanism. (The Decoder)

• DeepSeek became Ramp’s top trending software vendor in June 2026 as US firms adopt cheaper Chinese models. (The Decoder)

• Enterprises are adopting model routing to reduce AI spend, putting pressure on frontier lab revenue models. (CNBC Tech)

• xAI reportedly trained coding models on Claude outputs for months after access was revoked. (The Decoder)

• Investors continue to back both OpenAI and Anthropic despite their competitive positioning. (Wired AI)

• Uber imposed usage caps on AI coding tools to manage rising costs. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced plans to launch an internal AI research lab. (TechCrunch AI)

• SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son described OpenAI’s next model as a sign of superintelligence arriving sooner than 2036. (CNBC Tech)

• Reid Hoffman announced he will leave Microsoft’s board of directors. (NYT Technology)

• Sam Altman described the next phase of AI as “proactive” systems that act continuously in the background. (The Decoder)

• Satya Nadella discussed Microsoft’s core competencies, OpenAI relationship, and agentic platform strategy. (Stratechery)

• Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas stated “value per watt per user” will determine AI race winners. (CNBC Tech)

• Google co-founder Sergey Brin stated AI is on a path to AGI but could not describe what follows. (SEJ Generative AI)

• Satya Nadella publicly rejected an internal proposal to make Microsoft’s Scout agent deliberately addictive. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft positioned itself as a direct AI competitor to OpenAI at Build 2026. (The Verge AI)

• OpenAI began a retro-themed advertising campaign for ChatGPT. (NYT Technology)

• French President Macron invited Sam Altman to the G7 summit. (CNBC Tech)

• Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang stated future models will differentiate via consumer health capabilities. (Bloomberg Technology)

Regulation & Policy

• President Trump signed an executive order inviting voluntary early government access to frontier models. (CNBC Tech)

• Sam Altman met with US lawmakers and Trump administration officials regarding AI policy. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI and the Trump administration are discussing a government equity stake via a proposed Public Wealth Fund. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI published a blueprint for federal governance of frontier AI covering safety and national security. (OpenAI Blog)

• OpenAI released its public-policy agenda addressing safety, youth protection, and workforce transition. (OpenAI Blog)

• Florida sued OpenAI and Sam Altman personally, treating ChatGPT as a defective product and public nuisance. (The Decoder)

• Bernie Sanders called for the US public to receive a 50 percent stake in OpenAI and Anthropic. (Data Center Dynamics)

• White House AI policy adviser Sriram Krishnan is stepping down from his role. (Bloomberg Technology)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic’s Mythos model is reportedly supporting NSA offensive cyber operations against China and Iran. (The Decoder)

• SKT joined Anthropic’s Project Glasswing to scan codebases for security vulnerabilities. (Light Reading)

• Anthropic expanded Project Glasswing to 150 organizations across 15 countries for critical-infrastructure cybersecurity. (Capacity Global)

• Proliferation of AI agents is creating new security challenges for telecommunications operators. (Fierce Network)

• Hackers continue to exploit Meta AI agents to gain control of Instagram accounts. (Social Media Today)

• xAI reportedly trained coding models on Claude outputs for months after access was revoked. (The Decoder)

Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

The Witcher 3 crossed 65 million copies sold this week, and CD Projekt announced Songs of the Past, a new DLC coming in 2027. 12 years after launch.

When the game came out, I was at Bandai Namco, my first job in the industry. They published it in Europe. I was completely awestruck during that period. Met developers I had only read about, inside and outside the studio. Working on that game helped me learn more about this industry in that window than probably anything since. The game went on to become a blueprint for what RPGs could be, for how game music could work, for what narrative in games means.

Blood & Wine was GOTY material on its own. Lost that year to Dark Souls 3. I led the PR campaign for that one (but that’s not the reason we won, though).

Songs of the Past. GOTY 2027.

TLDR

1. Fable reboot delayed to February 2027 to avoid GTA 6 and a packed fall window. (Eurogamer)

2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 revealed for October 23, with DMZ extraction mode returning and last-gen support ending. (Eurogamer)

3. 007 First Light sold over 1.5 million copies. (Game Developer)

4. Mina the Hollower launched to positive reception, including from players who don’t normally finish souls-likes. (GameSpot)

5. Dragon Quest XII was renamed Beyond Dreams after Square Enix scrapped the original game entirely. (VGC)

Releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Multiple Switch games, including Monster Hunter Stories and Wolfenstein: Youngblood, received Switch 2 backwards compatibility fixes. (Nintendo Life)

• Call of Duty promised no clowny skins for Modern Warfare 4. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox will adjust promotional materials after including rival logos in showcases. (Eurogamer)

• A Steam reviewer played Destiny 2 for another 160 hours after declaring they were done following 10,000 hours. (PC Gamer)

• Yacht Club paused a 3D Shovel Knight game before developing Mina the Hollower. (PC Gamer)

• Overwatch originated from the cancelled Titan MMO project at Blizzard. (Polygon)

• Twitch announced Dual Format feature for simultaneous horizontal and vertical streaming. (Eurogamer)

• Bubsy 4D version 1.1.1 update arrives on PC now and consoles soon. (Nintendo Life)

• Hitoshi Sakimoto discussed his 40-year career including Final Fantasy XII and Vanillaware work. (RPG Site)

• Nintendo is developing new mobile games with Pictonico. (Polygon)

• Mina the Hollower features jump scares from Klumpy the Clown. (Polygon)

• Final Fantasy 14 playerbase responded positively to Evercold reveal. (PC Gamer)

• Playstack discovered Balatro by monitoring new Steam releases daily. (PC Gamer)

• Diablo 4 Season 14 introduces changes to Mythical items. (Eurogamer)

• Esports World Cup 2026 moves to Paris with a $75 million prize pool. (Esports Insider)

• RLCS Paris Major highlighted Rocket League strength in France. (Esports Insider)

• StarCraft 2 received major balance patch 5.0.16 six years after development ended. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox Showcase will feature competing platforms but no Helix news. (IGN)

• Diablo 4 adds Solo-Self-Found mode in Season 14. (GameSpot)

• Fable reboot delayed to February 2027 to avoid GTA 6 and other releases. (Eurogamer)

• Playstack sold to parent company of Fandom and GameSpot for $151 million. (VGC)

• The Witcher 3 surpassed 65 million units sold. (Polygon)

• Analysts reacted to Steam Deck price increases and implications for future hardware. (Eurogamer)

• ANA revealed Pokemon plane designs featuring Wind and Waves starters. (Siliconera)

• Overwatch poster spotted in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. (PC Gamer)

• NetEase reported 6.9% increase in games revenue to $3.7 billion in Q1. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Star Fox mouse mode controls shown in new Switch 2 gameplay footage. (Nintendo Life)

• Riot Games introduces dual-stage setup in Berlin for simultaneous LEC and VCT EMEA production. (Hotspawn)

• Valve raised Steam Deck OLED prices citing component costs, with Tim Sweeney publicly criticizing the move. (Eurogamer)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3 developers discussed cut content and hypothetical Resident Evil Stories. (VGC)

• Take-Two CEO stated former Rockstar employees have not matched GTA success. (PC Gamer)

• Crimson Desert 1.09.00 patch adds player-requested feature and new pets. (Eurogamer)

• Pokemon 30th anniversary TCG range reveal scheduled for June 1. (Nintendo Life)

• Sakura Wars series scriptwriter Hiroyuki Kawasaki passed away on January 23 at age 60. (RPG Site)

• Gothic 1 Remake new video details combat system. (RPG Site)

• Wuthering Waves 3.4 launches June 8 with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collaboration. (RPG Site)

• T1 extends CEO Joe Marsh contract until 2029. (Hotspawn)

• Tim Sweeney criticized Valve Steam Deck price hike. (PC Gamer)

• Overwatch general manager would not rule out other narrative experiences. (PC Gamer)

• Grim Dawn Fangs of Asterkarn expansion launches July 23. (RPG Site)

• Granblue Fantasy: Relink Endless Ragnarok released Fraux character trailer. (RPG Site)

• Fuga: Melodies of Steel mobile version launches July 29. (RPG Site)

• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era sold over 1 million copies on Steam. (RPG Site)

• Saken set to join ZYB Esport in the LFL. (Sheep Esports)

• China will miss League of Legends at 2026 Asian Games. (Sheep Esports)

• Hollow Knight: Silksong physical edition announced for PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2. (Gematsu)

• Nintendo offers two bonus months with 12-month Switch Online subscriptions until end of June. (Vooks)

• Nintendo World Championships winner 3DS listed over $20,000 on eBay. (Polygon)

• Leaked Persona 6 design docs reveal potential protagonists. (GameSpot)

• The Witcher 3 new expansion closer in scope to Blood and Wine. (PC Gamer)

• Activision confirms Warzone shutdown on PS4 and Xbox One after Modern Warfare 4 launch. (VGC)

• RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic gets Switch 2 version with paid upgrade for Switch 1 owners. (Nintendo Life)

• Subnautica 2 botched bonus deal impacts Krafton profit. (PC Gamer)

• Modern Warfare 4 changes Prestige system with two options. (GameSpot)

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 revealed for October 23 2026 release on current platforms. (Eurogamer)

• Modern Warfare 4 brings back DMZ extraction shooter mode. (PC Gamer)

• Epic developers discussed shock of March mass layoffs. (PC Gamer)

• Planet Zoo 2 revealed for autumn release with aquatic and flying species. (Eurogamer)

• Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar version 1.5.0 update released with PS5 and Xbox versions. (RPG Site)

• River City Saga: Journey to the West official trailer released. (Gematsu)

• Pragmata director would love a sequel but is not sole decision maker. (Eurogamer)

• Donkey Kong 64 coming to Nintendo Classics on Switch Online June 3. (Polygon)

• Marvel Rivals refunds ranked points lost to cheaters via new system. (PC Gamer)

• Bungie details Marathon Season 2 with new Sentinel class and free-to-play week. (Eurogamer)

• Fortnite iOS return reached 3.4 million downloads. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Valve raises Steam Deck OLED prices citing memory and storage costs. (Eurogamer)

• Riot responds to Vanguard DMA device cheating claims. (Sheep Esports)

• T1 Worlds skins and Ranked 5v5 announced in Dev Update. (Sheep Esports)

• GDC Trends Report 2026 notes generative AI rise and infrastructure challenges. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Ace Driver receives first home release via Hamster. (VGC)

• Diablo 4 anniversary event June 2-9 includes XP buffs, goblins, and cosmetics. (GameSpot)

• New Lord of the Rings open-world RPG in development by Kingdom Come creators. (GameSpot)

• Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight open world exceeds Arkham games in scope. (Polygon)

• Mina the Hollower is first souls-like completed by reviewer due to its design. (GameSpot)

• Petal Runner stood out at BitSummit with Pokemon-inspired pixel art. (Nintendo Life)

• The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past DLC skips Nintendo Switch. (Polygon)

• Forza Horizon 6 bowieknife99 drivatar urban legend goes viral. (Eurogamer)

• TheGamer staff payments now tied to per-article sessions. (Game Developer)

• Dragon Quest 12 renamed Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams after original scrapped. (VGC)

• No Man’s Sky The Swarm update version 6.4 now available. (Gematsu)

• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. (Gematsu)

• Sonic Frontiers Definitive Edition claimed for next month with Switch 2 physical. (VGC)

• Pokemon games surpassed 515 million units sold. (Eurogamer)

• Metal Gear Solid 4 port retains iPod and Playboy product placement. (Eurogamer)

• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition launches on Switch 2 September 24. (RPG Site)

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Songs of the Past expansion announced for 2027. (RPG Site)

• Dragon Quest I & II and III HD-2D Remakes combined sales crossed 4 million. (RPG Site)

• Oner will not appeal exclusion from South Korea Asian Games roster. (Sheep Esports)

• OWCS 2026 Champions Clash achieved highest Overwatch esports viewership in years. (Esports Insider)

• Sony delists and shuts down Destruction AllStars on PS5. (Polygon)

• Star Citizen surpassed $1 billion in funding with $5,000 ship released. (GameSpot)

• Florida man used chainsaw to steal Pokemon cards. (Polygon)

• Combo Breaker 2026 showed next generation of FGC pros. (Esports Insider)

• VALORANT patch 12.10 adds replay sharing and two new Skirmish maps. (Hotspawn)

• Rocket League Unreal Engine 6 update teased by Epic. (Eurogamer)

• Korean ratings suggest Paradox Lego Skylines city builder. (Eurogamer)

• Deadlock midlane objective experiment lasted one weekend. (PC Gamer)

• Microsoft pays $250 million to settle Activision Blizzard shareholder lawsuit. (Game Developer)

• LGD Gaming returns to Dota 2 by signing Ex-HEROIC. (Hotspawn)

• Street Fighter 6 adds Ingrid DLC character and new outfits May 28. (Nintendo Life)

• Take-Two CEO states Red Dead Online was not a missed opportunity. (PC Gamer)

• Remedy new CEO says Alan Wake and Control should have sold more. (VGC)

• Nearly 500 Marvel Rivals cheaters banned in targeted purge. (Eurogamer)

• Elden Ring movie set video shows early foes and castle. (Eurogamer)

• Riot not open to third-party collaboration skins in League of Legends. (PC Gamer)

• Sentinels CEO states esports needs another shakeout for sustainability. (Sheep Esports)

• T1 and Hanwha Life Esports qualify for Esports World Cup. (Sheep Esports)

• Bilibili Gaming confirms Viper return to Korea for hand injury treatment. (Sheep Esports)

• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Making of video released. (Gematsu)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3 soundtrack interview with composers released. (Siliconera)

• Brigandine Abyss demo available on Steam with limited editions on PS5 and Switch 2. (RPG Site)

• Gentle Mates and Karmine Corp qualify for Esports World Cup on VALORANT. (Sheep Esports)

• KC juicy comments on RLCS Paris Major win. (Sheep Esports)

This edition covers 18 May to 24 May 2026.

What caught my attention

Google shipped 100 announcements at I/O this week. Omni, Spark, Antigravity 2.0, Gemini 3.5, XR glasses, world models wired to Street View. A genuinely staggering amount of working product. The main labs should be worried, if you ask me.

Speaking of which… the two labs everyone treats as the main characters spent the week showing their books and fighting in court over who gets to steal a non-profit. We learned that OpenAI burned $1.22 for every dollar it earned. xAI lost $6.4 billion last year and is now buying $2.8 billion in gas turbines to keep the lights on. A jury just sided with OpenAI in Musk’s suit over technicalities.

TLDR

The 5 stories that mattered this week:

1. Alibaba’s Qwen3.7-Max ran autonomously for 35 hours to optimize code for its own custom chip and now matches Claude Opus 4.6 on benchmarks. (The Decoder)

2. DeepSeek is raising ~$10 billion at a $45 billion valuation while telling investors AGI research comes before short-term profit. (The Decoder)

3. Google dropped 100 announcements at I/O 2026, including Gemini Omni, Spark, Antigravity 2.0, Gemini 3.5, and Android XR glasses. (Google AI Blog)

4. An OpenAI reasoning model produced the first AI-generated proof deemed suitable for a top math journal, disproving Erdős’s 1946 unit-distance conjecture. (The Decoder)

5. Trump withdrew a planned AI safety executive order after last-minute calls from Musk, Zuckerberg, and Sacks. (The Decoder)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Alibaba released Qwen3.7-Max, which ran autonomously for 35 hours to optimize code for its custom chip and matches Claude Opus 4.6 on benchmarks. (The Decoder)

• Google demonstrated Gemini Omni, an anything-to-anything model capable of generating and editing video from images, audio, and text inputs. (The Verge AI)

• Cohere open-sourced its Command A+ model under the Apache 2.0 license. (The Decoder)

• Stability AI released Stability Audio 3.0, capable of generating up to six-minute songs with a smaller on-device variant limited to two minutes. (TechCrunch AI)

• Gemini 3.5 Flash costs 5.5 times more to run than its predecessor and exceeds Gemini 3.1 Pro costs on agent tasks. (The Decoder)

• An OpenAI reasoning model produced the first AI-generated proof deemed suitable for a top mathematics journal by disproving Erdős’s 1946 unit-distance conjecture using algebraic number theory. (The Decoder)

• Claude Mythos Preview identified over 10,000 critical vulnerabilities across partner systems in Project Glasswing, outpacing patching capacity. (The Decoder)

• Google DeepMind combined the Genie 3 world model with Street View data to produce explorable AI environments from real locations. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft Copilot produced stereotypical results on identical datasets with altered country labels during data analysis tests, while thinking models avoided the error when selected. (The Decoder)

• Demis Hassabis stated humanity is in the foothills of the singularity, while Yann LeCun said current AI systems are not genuinely intelligent and Oriol Vinyals noted models lack experience-based learning. (The Decoder)

Products & Tools

• Google claimed its Antigravity 2.0 agents built a complete operating system from a single prompt at a reported cost of $916 in API fees. (AI Snake Oil)

• Google introduced the Gemini Spark AI agent for autonomous task execution, addressing limitations seen in prior personal assistant tools. (The Verge AI)

• OpenAI launched a ChatGPT beta plugin for PowerPoint that generates and edits slides from notes or images, with a warning to save work beforehand. (The Decoder)

• Figma added an AI assistant that accepts natural language prompts to generate, edit, and iterate designs on the collaborative canvas. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google demonstrated prototype Android XR glasses that overlay Gemini-powered translation and navigation in the user’s field of view. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google Search now uses Gemini to generate custom product explainers and integrate ads with AI Overviews. (The Verge AI)

• Google added voice-based conversational search to Gmail allowing users to query inbox contents via Gemini. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google added an experimental “Agentic Browsing” category to Lighthouse that checks websites for llms.txt files. (The Decoder)

• Google’s AI Overviews inserted unrelated chatbot-style responses when users searched the term “disregard.” (The Verge AI)

• YouTube introduced an AI remix tool for Shorts that generates alternate video versions using Omni models. (Social Media Today)

• Spotify released an ElevenLabs-powered tool that generates audiobooks without requiring exclusive distribution rights. (TechCrunch AI)

• Spotify launched the Studio AI app that generates personalized daily briefings and podcasts from user data. (The Verge AI)

• A Wired reporter generated lifelike video clones of themselves using Gemini’s AI avatar tool. (Wired AI)

• SAP integrated Mistral AI models to assist customers migrating legacy systems to S/4HANA. (The Decoder)

• Tesla activated Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in China after extended regulatory delays. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise AI Coding Agents. (OpenAI Blog)

Infrastructure & Compute

• xAI has shifted focus to natural gas power while SpaceX pursues orbital data centers, moving away from earlier solar power emphasis. They will purchase $2.8 billion in natural gas turbines over three years, according to SpaceX's filing disclosures. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang identified CPUs for AI agents as a new $200 billion market opportunity. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google and Blackstone formed a joint venture to deploy TPU-based AI cloud capacity targeted for 2027 availability. (Capacity Global)

Regulation & Policy

• President Trump withdrew a planned AI safety executive order following calls from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and David Sacks. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic is expected to continue supplying Claude to the NSA despite a Pentagon supply chain risk flag, with the deal excluding the prior “any lawful use” clause. (The Decoder)

• The Pentagon began testing rival AI models to identify replacements for Anthropic’s Claude among 25 power users. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Singapore signed AI partnership agreements with Google and OpenAI, including a $234 million OpenAI commitment. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI launched the multi-year “OpenAI for Singapore” partnership for talent development and public sector deployment. (OpenAI Blog)

• Hackers are shifting from simple prompt exploits to targeting chatbot personalities in newer AI systems. (The Verge AI)

Business & Funding

• Anthropic is set to close a funding round exceeding $30 billion at a valuation above $900 billion. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Anthropic is projected to report its first profitable quarter with $559 million operating profit on $10.9 billion Q2 revenue. (The Decoder)

• DeepSeek is raising approximately $10 billion at a $45 billion valuation while prioritizing AGI research over short-term commercialization. (The Decoder)

• DeepSeek is assembling a Beijing team to build “Deepseek Code,” an agent competing with Claude Code and Codex. (The Decoder)

• Chinese labs are delivering frontier-level model performance at significantly lower inference costs than U.S. counterparts, raising questions over OpenAI and Anthropic IPO economics. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI reported $5.7 billion in Q1 2026 revenue with an adjusted operating margin of minus 122 percent. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI is targeting a possible September IPO following resolution of the Musk lawsuit. (TechCrunch AI)

• A jury rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI partly due to the timing of the filing. (TechCrunch AI)

• SpaceX plans a June 12 IPO that analysts suggest could represent the largest public float in history. (CNBC Tech)

• xAI recorded a $6.4 billion loss in 2025 according to SpaceX’s IPO filing. (TechCrunch AI)

• SoftBank insiders expressed concerns over Masayoshi Son’s $60 billion commitment to OpenAI. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI appointed Chris Lehane as global affairs chief to manage regulatory and reputational matters. (Wired AI)

• Luma and Wonder Project formed Innovative Dreams to produce longer-form AI video content beyond short clips. (The Verge AI)

• GitHub lost ground in AI coding tools to newer competitors despite user growth under Microsoft ownership. (CNBC Tech)

Events & Industry

• Google listed 100 announcements from I/O 2026 including Gemini Omni, Antigravity 2.0, and Universal Cart. (Google AI Blog)

• Stratechery analyzed Google I/O 2026 announcements and DeepMind’s alignment with Google’s commercial priorities. (Stratechery)

• Anthropic hosted the Code with Claude developer event showcasing enterprise coding workflows. (MIT Tech Review)

Society & Culture

• Benedict Evans argues that assigning precise AI exposure scores to jobs, companies, and industries is mostly impossible due to unpredictable job changes and measurement challenges. (Benedict Evans)

• A Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winner published by Granta magazine showed characteristics of AI-generated text. (The Verge AI)

• Gartner research found 70 percent of B2B buyers prefer digital self-service yet still seek human validation over AI outputs. (MarTech)

What caught my attention

I listened to the Strauss Zelnick episode on David Senra’s podcast this week. The man had a very successful career in movies and music, then mounted a hostile takeover of Take-Two with no money, a chairman under indictment, and only 6 months of cash left. That story alone is worth 99 minutes of your time. But what stayed with me was something else. He talks about leadership through a service lens - genuinely. He retells a story from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (highly recommend reading this book, too) about a postman and a compliment about his hair, and his point is simple: why do you need to get something out of every interaction?

On AI, he was equally grounded, and dropped an absolute banger/reality check:

“Remember what AI is, despite the fact that there are people in Silicon Valley who don’t want you to believe this — it’s big data sets, lots of compute, and a large language model mushed together. Data sets, by their very nature, are backwards-looking. Creativity, by its very nature, is forward-looking. AI so far is really great at asset creation, but hit creation isn’t asset creation.”

Highly recommend listening to it. Really.

TLDR

1. Bungie ends Destiny 2 content updates + layoffs incoming — A legendary live service shuts down its content pipeline on June 9 with no Destiny 3 on the horizon; significant layoffs expected. (Eurogamer)

2. Sony ends narrative single-player PS5 games on PC — A full reversal of a strategy that seemed settled; major implications for how PlayStation thinks about its exclusives going forward. (Eurogamer)

3. Epic reveals Unreal Engine 6 with Rocket League as first title — A new engine generation announced at the Paris Major, with the irony that RL’s viewership is simultaneously declining. (Polygon)

4. Take-Two expects $8B in FY27 revenue on the back of GTA VI — The financial stakes around GTA VI’s November release are now fully on the table. (Game Developer)

5. Xbox hires Matthew Ball as CSO and Scott Van Vliet as CTO — Two high-profile external hires signal Xbox is actively rebuilding its strategic and tech leadership. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Biggest Releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Tekken 8, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, and 2XKO revealed new fighters at Combo Breaker 2026. (Polygon)

• Tekken 8 Season 3 DLC character Yujiro Hanma from the Baki series was announced. (Gematsu)

• IO Interactive shared footage of the opening mission from 007 First Light after a leak. (Eurogamer)

• Epic revealed Rocket League as the first Unreal Engine 6 game at the 2026 Rocket League Paris Major. (Polygon)

• Forza Horizon 6 reached Steam’s top 5 most played games with over 300k concurrent players. (PC Gamer)

• Hatsune Miku variants including Helldivers Miku and Pyramid Head Miku are canon. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard shared a behind-the-scenes video on the Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred soundtrack. (RPG Site)

• Neverness to Everness Version 1.1 “Dreamwalk Corridor” launches June 3 with new characters and a Porsche collaboration. (RPG Site)

• Esports Nations Cup reportedly extends roster announcement timeline. (Sheep Esports)

• Star Fox on Switch 2 requires a day one update for online Battle Mode. (Nintendo Life)

• Ubisoft confirmed Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced features the drunk load screen. (IGN)

• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced director teased more on cut modern-day sections. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft settled the final legal challenge to its Activision Blizzard acquisition for $250 million. (Polygon)

• Beast of Reincarnation from Game Freak is positioned as a key summer release alongside Star Fox and other titles. (Polygon)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Season 2 DLC character Mr. Karate launches May 27. (Gematsu)

• Former CEO Bobby Kotick claimed a lawsuit against Microsoft’s Activision acquisition aimed to help Embracer. (Eurogamer)

• Star Citizen reached nearly $1 billion in funding and went free to play until May 27. (PC Gamer)

• Alpha54 and mtzr will join Geekay ahead of the EU Last Chance Qualifier. (Sheep Esports)

• EMEA Masters Spring expands to 28 teams with Solary and Karmine Corp Blue qualifying. (Sheep Esports)

• Bitmap Books announced Fatal Fury: The Ultimate History book. (GameSpot)

• RLCS 2026 Paris Major viewership declined. (Esports Insider)

• Sega released a five-second teaser for the Crazy Taxi revival. (Nintendo Life)

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds soundtrack with over 100 tracks is available on Nintendo Music. (RPG Site)

• Riot Games stated it would not and cannot use Vanguard to brick PCs. (IGN)

• EU politician Milan Uhrík blamed wokeness and Yasuke during a Stop Killing Games debate. (PC Gamer)

• Red Dead Redemption 2 continues strong sales per Take-Two’s earnings call. (Polygon)

• Zohran Mamdani is not New York’s first gamer mayor. (PC Gamer)

• Take-Two expects $8B in FY27 revenue thanks to Grand Theft Auto VI. (Game Developer)

• Grand Theft Auto VI remains planned for November with marketing starting this summer. (Eurogamer)

• Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2 content updates on June 9 and is eyeing significant layoffs with no Destiny 3 plans. (Eurogamer)

• Blue Prince’s Accessibility Update version 1.7 is live on Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, a stealth-action platformer, was revealed for Switch 2 in 2027. (Nintendo Life)

• Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.3 “The Lethe Below the Living” launches June 1. (RPG Site)

• Sword Art Online Game Echoes of Aincrad trailer showed avatar creation, combat, and partners. (Siliconera)

• Subnautica 2 sold 4 million copies in less than a week. (PC Gamer)

• New York is suing Valve over CS2 cases. (Hotspawn)

• Omega released the real Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph 007 First Light watch. (GameSpot)

• Dawn of War 4 received a release date, DLC roadmap, and Crusade Mode plans. (PC Gamer)

• PlayStation’s dynamic pricing experiment may violate European law. (Eurogamer)

• Overwatch boss cited Marvel Rivals’ success as prompting Blizzard to take risks. (PC Gamer)

• French union accused Quantic Dream of catastrophic project management over Spellcasters Chronicles shutdown. (VGC)

• Witcher 3’s heaviest scene influenced Cyberpunk 2’s quest design approach. (PC Gamer)

• Persona 5: The Phantom X added Makoto Yuki from Persona 3 Reload in a crossover story. (RPG Site)

• Ubisoft reported FY26 revenue and net bookings down 21.8% and 17.4% year-over-year. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Splitgate studio revealed Empulse for early access later this year. (PC Gamer)

• Civilization 7’s Test of Time update brought its highest Steam player count in over a year. (PC Gamer)

• Civilization 7’s Test of Time update reworked ages, victories, and core systems. (GameSpot)

• Xbox hired Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer and Scott Van Vliet as chief technology officer. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Ubisoft confirmed new Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost Recon games before April 2029. (Eurogamer)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Ghost of Yotei lead Develop:Star Awards 2026 nominations. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Kickstarter apologized for criticized adult content rules. (Eurogamer)

• Hasbro cancelled the Dungeons & Dragons game led by Respawn veterans. (Game Developer)

• Embracer chairman emphasized cost control after years of layoffs. (Game Developer)

• Hasbro spent $1 billion on video games with none being live service. (VGC)

• Nier director Yoko Taro stated new game projects start with the money. (VGC)

• Embracer Group is splitting into two companies with licensing for properties like Kain and JC Denton. (PC Gamer)

• Sony announced a PlayStation State of Play for June 2, 2026, featuring Marvel’s Wolverine. (Polygon)

• A Pokemon Pokopia player nearly completed a recreation of the original Kanto region. (Eurogamer)

• Former Housemarque game director launched Cosmic Division studio for a new single-player franchise. (Game Developer)

• Warhorse Studios is developing an open-world Middle-earth RPG and a new Kingdom Come adventure. (Eurogamer)

• Esports World Cup 2026 relocated to Paris with details revealed. (Sheep Esports)

• Final Fantasy XI server replacements and new story content were teased. (Siliconera)

• Fellowship developers are adjusting loot to be worse for better build variety. (PC Gamer)

• The fighting game community grew at Combo Breaker amid broader esports challenges. (Esports Insider)

• Ken Williams played a key role in Half-Life’s existence. (PC Gamer)

• Counter-Strike 2 maintains top Steam concurrent player counts. (Hotspawn)

• Fortnite returned to iOS worldwide except Australia. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• CI Games and Epic Games terminated the Lords of the Fallen II publishing deal. (Game Developer)

• Stardew Valley has no microtransactions as Eric Barone values players over revenue. (PC Gamer)

• Sony will no longer bring narrative single-player PS5 games to PC. (Eurogamer)

• Nintendo released Pictonico!, a mobile game that turns photos into mini-games. (Vooks)

• Steam added “bullet heaven” as the official tag for the Vampire Survivors genre. (PC Gamer)

• Marvel Cosmic Invasion DLC added Cyclops and The Thing. (Nintendo Life)

• Atlus launched a Persona 3 Reload localization survey. (Siliconera)

• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight involved Rocksteady co-development. (Eurogamer)

• Hironobu Sakaguchi praised an AI-generated Final Fantasy 6 remake teaser. (Eurogamer)

• The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales showcases modern minigame design. (Eurogamer)

• Take-Two CEO stated AI is not suited for making hits but can be helpful. (PC Gamer)

• A cinematic from the cancelled Star Wars KOTOR remake leaked online. (VGC)

• Subnautica 2 EULA includes a $50 damage limit and VPN ban. (Eurogamer)

• Matt Ryan reacted to pirate jokes as Edward Kenway. (GameSpot)

• Granblue Fantasy: Relink Endless Ragnarok released 22 character trailers. (RPG Site)

• South Korea revealed its League of Legends roster for the 2026 Asian Games. (Sheep Esports)

• G2 Esports and Karmine Corp qualified for the Esports World Cup LoL Tournament. (Sheep Esports)

• PC gaming’s indie-themed Smash Bros. added Guy Spelunky from Spelunky. (PC Gamer)

Thank you!

This edition covers 27 April to 3 May 2026.

What caught my attention

Elon Musk testified this week that he was a “fool” for giving OpenAI $38 million. That $38 million is now an $800 billion company. He also admitted, under oath, that xAI trains on OpenAI models while simultaneously suing OpenAI for betraying its nonprofit mission. Sam Altman sat across from him. Two of the most powerful men in AI, in a courtroom, arguing over who gets credit for building the thing that might eventually replace both of them. The ideology is loud. The self-awareness is quiet. Whatever happens with the verdict, this trial is the clearest picture we’ve had of who’s actually steering this industry — and it’s not reassuring.

TLDR

1. Pentagon signed classified AI deals with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, xAI, and Reflection, excluding Anthropic — drawing a sharp line between who’s in the room and who isn’t. (The Verge AI)

2. Microsoft and OpenAI ended exclusivity in their partnership — OpenAI is already on AWS, and Microsoft plans to offer the tech free to cloud customers. (The Verge AI)

3. Anthropic is weighing funding offers at over $900B valuation, potentially surpassing OpenAI — the underdog framing is getting harder to sustain. (Bloomberg Technology)

4. Huawei projects 60% AI chip revenue increase to $12B in 2026 — DeepSeek demand is fueling Chinese hardware at scale, and the export restriction strategy has a visible crack in it. (Capacity Global)

5. Build American AI, linked to a super PAC backed by OpenAI and a16z executives, paid TikTok influencers to push pro-AI messaging and China fear narratives — AI policy discourse is now an astroturfing battlefield. (Wired AI)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• ARC Prize Foundation analysis of 160 runs revealed three systematic reasoning errors in GPT-5.5 and Opus 4.7 on ARC-AGI-3 benchmark, keeping scores below 1%. (The Decoder)

• Mistral released Medium 3.5 merging chat, reasoning, and code capabilities, plus async agents in Vibe and agent mode in Le Chat. (The Decoder)

• xAI released Grok 4.3 with price reductions, improved tool use, gains on practical tasks, and new agent-based image generator Imagine mode. (The Decoder)

• Study found AI models trained for warmer tone prioritize user satisfaction over truthfulness, leading to more errors. (Ars Technica AI)

• Nvidia released open Nemotron 3 Nano Omni multimodal model trained on data from Qwen, GPT-OSS, Kimi, DeepSeek OCR. (The Decoder)

• DeepSeek V4 optimized for Huawei chips triggered rush by ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba amid supply constraints. (Capacity Global)

• Talkie-1930 is a 13B open-weight LLM trained solely on pre-1931 English text for historical reasoning research. (MarkTechPost)

• Anthropic’s BioMysteryBench shows Claude matching human experts in bioinformatics with caveats. (The Decoder)

• UK AI Security Institute found GPT-5.5 matches Claude Mythos in autonomous network attack simulations. (The Decoder)

Products & Tools

• xAI introduced Custom Voices feature allowing voice cloning from one minute of speech, building on Grok Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech APIs. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI explained goblin references in models as a side effect of faulty training reward, with internal instructions to avoid mentioning creatures. (The Verge AI)

• OpenAI enabled marketing cookies by default for free ChatGPT users in ad-running countries, with tracking opt-out available in settings. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft integrated AI Legal Agent into Word for contract review, edits, and compliance checks. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic launched Claude Security using offensive capabilities for cyber defenders. (The Decoder)

• Google’s Gemini AI assistant is deploying to millions of vehicles with Google built-in. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google Gemini now generates full documents, spreadsheets, and presentations directly in chat. (The Decoder)

• Google rolled out Gemini memory in Europe with ChatGPT history import capability. (The Decoder)

• Stripe launched Link digital wallet enabling AI agents to spend via user approvals. (TechCrunch AI)

• Meta launched AI ad connectors allowing external chatbots like Claude or ChatGPT to access advertiser data without APIs. (Social Media Today)

• X rebuilt its ad platform with xAI models for improved targeting and performance. (Social Media Today)

• OpenAI launched advanced security for ChatGPT accounts including a Yubico partnership. (TechCrunch AI)

• ChatGPT Images 2.0 gained traction in India for creating avatars and cinematic portraits. (TechCrunch AI)

• Goldman Sachs Hong Kong staff lost access to Anthropic’s Claude AI coding agent. (Bloomberg Technology)

• AWS launched OpenAI model offerings including a new agent service following the end of Microsoft exclusivity. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• OpenAI achieved 10 gigawatts of U.S. AI compute capacity ahead of schedule. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI detailed scaling Stargate for AGI compute infrastructure with new data centers. (OpenAI Blog)

• Huawei projects 60% AI chip revenue increase to $12 billion in 2026 driven by Ascend 950PR and DeepSeek demand. (Capacity Global)

Regulation & Policy

• Pentagon signed classified AI deals with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, xAI, and Reflection, excluding Anthropic. (The Verge AI)

• Pentagon tech chief confirmed Anthropic remains blacklisted but Mythos is a separate entity; DOD signed with seven other AI firms. (CNBC Tech)

• White House opposes Anthropic’s plan to expand Mythos AI model access. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google signed AI deal with Pentagon similar to OpenAI and xAI amid Anthropic dispute. (NYT Technology)

• AI chatbots provided instructions to scientists on assembling and deploying biological weapons. (NYT Technology)

• Build American AI, linked to a super PAC backed by OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz executives, paid TikTok influencers to promote pro-AI messaging and amplify Chinese AI threats. (Wired AI)

• South Korea invested $49M in AI research for broadcasting industry transformation. (Light Reading)

• Gartner predicts 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027 due to human factors. (MarTech)

Business & Funding

• Microsoft and OpenAI restructured their partnership, ending exclusive elements. (The Verge AI)

• OpenAI shifted aggressively toward Amazon partnerships while maintaining Microsoft ties. (CNBC Tech)

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plans to offer OpenAI technology to cloud customers at no additional cost under the new deal. (TechCrunch AI)

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized AI success is about intense users and usage over seat counts, amid record profits. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft reported over 20M paid Copilot users with growing engagement. (TechCrunch AI)

• OpenAI’s revenue chief stated enterprise business is accelerating. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar reported meeting objectives with surging product demand. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Anthropic received pre-emptive funding offers for a $50B round at an $850-900B valuation. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic requested investor allocations for new fundraise within 48 hours. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic weighs funding offers valuing it over $900 billion, potentially surpassing OpenAI. (Bloomberg Technology)

• SoftBank’s $40 billion loan for an OpenAI stake attracted additional banks in syndication. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Tech hyperscalers’ earnings loomed with OpenAI as key topic for Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft. (CNBC Tech)

• Meta’s business AI facilitates 10 million conversations weekly; over 8 billion advertisers have used GenAI tools. (TechCrunch AI)

• Apple reported its best March quarter ever with stock rising 4% after hours. (CNBC Tech)

• Runway CEO discussed the transition from AI video to world models. (TechCrunch AI)

Society & Culture

• Elon Musk testified he was a “fool” for investing $38 million in OpenAI, warned of a “Terminator” future, and admitted xAI uses OpenAI models for training. (MIT Tech Review)

• Elon Musk testified a second day in the OpenAI trial, unable to escape his own prior public statements. (TechCrunch AI)

• Musk v. Altman trial revealed early OpenAI emails, photos, and corporate documents as exhibits. (The Verge AI)

• Florida case used ChatGPT as evidence in college students’ killings; Altman apologized for a prior unannounced ban. (CBS News Tech)

• Christian content creators hired Fiverr gig workers to produce AI-generated Bible videos. (The Verge AI)

• Companies discussed operationalizing AI factories for scale, sustainability, and governance using owned data. (MIT Tech Review)

This edition will cover the week from April 27 to May 3.

What caught my attention

Finished the Lord of Hatred campaign this weekend. One of the best bits of storytelling I’ve played in months. The visuals, music, and voice acting are all incredible - shoutout to Lorath Nahr, Mephisto, and above all Lilith, who I must insist: did nothing wrong. Mother knows best.

Also got back into Persona 3 Reload for a few hours. Not quite Persona 5 Royal, but very good on its own.

Can’t wait for Persona 6 and P4 Revival.

TLDR

1. Xbox Q3 FY2026 financials + Asha Sharma reaction — Hardware down 33%, content and services down 5%. “We know we have work to do.” (Eurogamer + VGC)

2. Subnautica 2 early access starts in May — after Krafton was court-ordered to reinstate the fired leadership team. Wild way to ship a game. (VGC)

3. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era — 500k copies in 72 hours. A strategy revival no one was sure would land. It landed. (RPG Site)

4. GreedFall developer Spiders confirmed closure — Nacon filed for insolvency, the studio no longer exists. Another one. (Game Developer)

5. Xbox games on PlayStation crossed $650M in gross revenue — Forza Horizon 5 leading. Microsoft’s multiplatform bet is paying off even as hardware bleeds. (GameSpot)

Biggest releases of the week

Rest of the news

• A California judge gave preliminary approval to a class action lawsuit settlement requiring Sony to pay $7.8 million in refunds to select PlayStation users for digital PSN purchases. (IGN)

• Vitality swept NAVI 3-0 to win BLAST Rivals Fort Worth 2026 without prior practice and after winning every event since IEM Krakow. (Hotspawn)

• Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 co-director Naoki Hamaguchi completed over 40 full playthroughs despite no public details or footage shared. (Eurogamer)

• Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner assured fans it is still operating after high-profile exits. (Eurogamer)

• Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War launched 30 years ago and pioneered elements popular in modern Fire Emblem games. (Polygon)

• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era sold over 500k copies in less than 72 hours after launch. (RPG Site)

• IOC suspended Esports Commission operations, raising uncertainty over the Olympic Esports Games initiative. (Sheep Esports)

• South Korean Supreme Court ordered Dark and Darker developer Ironmace to pay $3.84 million to Nexon, ending the civil case while the criminal one continues. (PC Gamer)

• A Circana survey found exclusive games remain the top reason for console play, though motivation dropped since last year. (VGC)

• Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina was announced for Switch 1 and 2 with an early 2027 release by developer French Bread and publisher Aniplex. (Nintendo Life)

• Pragmata subreddit users comforted a 55-year-old gamer who posted that the character Diana reminded him of his late daughter. (IGN)

• Blizzard decided Limitless Rage barbarian items in Diablo 4 need a limit after they enabled quadrillions of damage. (PC Gamer)

• Evo’s broadcast of the Daigo Umehara and MenaRD Kemonomichi Legends LIVE match drew criticism from the Japanese FGC for disrespectful production. (Esports Insider)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Best Game at the BIG Festival Awards at Gamescom Latam. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse declined to confirm a Lord of the Rings game but stated the next project will be an RPG true to its style. (Eurogamer)

• Fuse Games officially announced Star Wars: Galactic Racer release date with Deluxe and Collector’s editions after a leak. (Eurogamer)

• Diablo 4 players requested more dyes following the Lord of Hatred expansion launch. (Eurogamer)

• Supergiant Games released a Hades II Behind the Music at Abbey Road Studios video showcasing four songs. (RPG Site)

• The Outer Worlds will be delisted on PC platforms on May 27, with Spacer’s Choice Edition as the only version available and upgrade options announced. (RPG Site)

• SNK announced Mr. Karate from Art of Fighting as May DLC for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, following Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star in June. (GameSpot)

• Elon Musk personally called Satya Nadella to secure discounted Microsoft computing power for OpenAI’s Dota 2 win over humans. (PC Gamer)

• Final Fantasy XIV Online director Naoki Yoshida confirmed mouse and keyboard support, including Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, for the Switch 2 version. (Nintendo Life)

• Krafton reported Q1 revenue up 56.9% to $931 million and operating profit at $381.3 million, driven by mobile content. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Roblox reported strong Q1 revenue and bookings growth but lowered full-year forecast due to mandatory age checks and new safety measures. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• NIS America and Happinet announced Brigandine: Abyss, a new strategy RPG, for Switch 2 release in August with a physical edition. (Nintendo Life)

• LCK decided not to sanction Gen.G AD Carry Ruler following an investigation into his tax-related case. (Sheep Esports)

• EVE Online developer CCP paid out $80,000 to mod contest winners for its experimental survival MMO EVE Frontier. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard added $40 home exteriors to World of Warcraft’s real money shop following the Midnight expansion housing feature. (GameSpot)

• Subnautica 2 early access starts in May after Krafton was ordered to reinstate the fired leadership team amid legal dispute. (VGC)

• IOI art director explained the unusual design of 007: First Light’s limited edition DualSense PS5 controller as deliberate. (Eurogamer)

• Former ESO boss Matt Firor discussed the cancellation of MMO Project Blackbird, stating Microsoft found a giant successful videogame unstimulating. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo updated Super Mario Galaxy 2 over a decade after release to add new story content involving Rosalina. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft Q3 FY2026 gaming revenue down 7%, Xbox content and services down 5%, hardware down 33% year-on-year, while recommitting to core fans. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox’s Asha Sharma stated the company has work to do after Q3 hardware revenue declined 30% and overall Xbox revenue declined 5%. (VGC)

• NetherRealm Studios is reportedly developing Injustice 3 nine years after the previous entry. (Eurogamer)

• GreedFall developer Spiders confirmed closure as the company no longer exists, owned by Nacon which filed for insolvency. (Game Developer)

• A Plague Tale studio Asobo suggested Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy release is months away nearly a year after announcement. (VGC)

• GameMaker incorporated Claude Code for AI-assisted workflows, with head Russell Kay stating it gives users the option to use AI. (Game Developer)

• Overwatch game director Aaron Keller stated continuous communication was key to revitalization in a GDC 2026 talk. (Game Developer)

• Digital Bros. acquired Wuchang: Fallen Feathers IP from Chengdu Lingze Technology Co. Ltd for $4.6 million. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• A Japanese retailer requires customers to answer 15 Pokémon trivia questions to buy cards and stop scalpers. (VGC)

• Xbox games on PlayStation generated over $650 million in gross revenue, led by Forza Horizon 5 according to Alinea Analytics. (GameSpot)

• Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection update added Krossplay online, off by default except for Mortal Kombat Trilogy on original Switch. (Nintendo Life)

• A Chinese study found League of Legends playing boosts cognitive skills. (Hotspawn)

• Bandai Namco released a Tales of Arise character trailer for Alphen ahead of Switch 2 port. (RPG Site)

• Neverness to Everness launched worldwide on PS5, PS5 Pro, PC, iOS, and Android by Perfect World and Hotta Studio. (RPG Site)

• A sorceress conquered Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s new hardest difficulty tier in 17 hours. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo issued copyright strikes, leading to the deletion of the PokéNational YouTube channel, which has been creating Pokémon nature documentaries since 2023. (Polygon)

• Pokémon Go Fest 2026: Global is free for all players on July 11-12 with no ticket needed for its 10th anniversary, featuring the debut of Mega Mewtwo X and Y and Special Research with shiny spawns. (Polygon)

• Balatro uses mouse jitter and maths for random number generation in its code. (PC Gamer)

• Games Done Quick announced a three-day speedrunning event at Gamescom 2026 from August 28-30, its first in Europe. (Eurogamer)

• Pearl Abyss gave each employee a $3,400 bonus after Crimson Desert sales success. (Eurogamer)

• Valve stated Steam Deck 2 is in development amid ongoing Steam Deck stock issues due to RAM shortage. (VGC)

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo launched on Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S with progress carry-over to full June 3 release and bonus items. (Eurogamer)

• Capcom raised FY25 earnings forecast due to stronger-than-expected Resident Evil: Requiem performance. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred Original Soundtrack with 32 songs over 2.5 hours released on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and more. (RPG Site)

• HoYoverse stated that Zenless Zone Zero will not have Steam Deck optimisation at launch, but players can run it for feedback. (RPG Site)

• Executives from T1, Gen.G, and All Gamers stated EWC became a growth engine, with T1 targeting $1B valuation and strategies for EWC 2026. (Sheep Esports)

• The Esports Nations Cup 2026 rulebook details the ENC Point System to select 16 invited nations. (Sheep Esports)

• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred launches with a minimal new season to focus on campaign and loot changes, with normal seasons resuming later. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard commissioned Korn, on 4-year hiatus, to write a song for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred. (PC Gamer)

• Valve explained that Steam Controller releases came before Steam Machine, as the latter lacks RAM. (VGC)

• River City Saga: Journey to the West, a roguelite action game, launches June 4 for PlayStation 5. (Gematsu)

• Just over 20% of Crimson Desert players reached halfway through the story over a month after release. (PC Gamer)

• Atari released a relaunch update for Adventure of Samsara, a Metroidvania, with new features after its September 2025 launch. (Polygon)

• South Korean Prime Minister praised Crimson Desert and Pearl Abyss for opening a new chapter in K-content after four million sales in two weeks. (Eurogamer)

• Capcom teased that Pragmata could have a future among its pantheon of iconic franchises after a tough development. (PC Gamer)

This edition will cover the week from 20 April to 26 April.

Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

Lord of Hatred drops this week, and I’m genuinely excited. The original Diablo 4 campaign was something special - the lead-up to Inarius vs Lilith, the music, the cinematics, the buildup. One of the best slices of storytelling I’ve played in years. Vessel of Hatred kept the thread going. People can say what they want about Blizzard’s handling of live service and seasons, but they always deliver on cinematics.

Since launch, they’ve been quietly grinding the rest into shape too: the endgame is in a good place, Season of Loot was actually fun, and the overall direction finally feels like they know what they’re building toward. Lord of Hatred adds a Warlock and a Paladin… But I’ll play Mage. Always mage.

TLDR

1. Xbox's new leadership mission statement — Asha Sharma and Matt Booty officially reevaluate exclusivity, rebrand Microsoft Gaming back to Xbox, and admit PC presence isn’t good enough. New era or new PR? (IGN)

2. Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred — Launches April 28 with a Korn collab, new classes, and new end-game systems. Most anticipated expansion of the year. (GameSpot)

3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hits 8 million sales — One year in, it’s still the benchmark. Anniversary update live, Steam sale running. (Game Developer)

4. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced revealed — Full remake by Ubisoft Singapore, the studio that spent a decade on Skull and Bones, launching July 2026. (Polygon)

5. Pragmata hits 1 million copies in two days — Resident Evil Requiem at 7 million, now this. Capcom is on a generational run and doesn’t look like slowing down. (RPG Site)

Biggest releases of the week

Rest of the news

• At North American Fan Fest 2026, Naoki Yoshida announced FFXIV 8.0 Evercold with character creation overhaul, a seasons system and weekly content shift, a 24-person Evangelion raid series Ghosts of Desire, Switch 2 performance targeting stable 30fps, and half-jokingly requested pitches for a single-player spinoff. (Siliconera) (GameSpot) (RPG Site) (PC Gamer)

• Square Enix shut down a Japanese content creator for the second month running for harassing Final Fantasy 14 staff, with compensation agreed. (VGC)

• New Xbox leadership (Asha Sharma, Matt Booty) reevaluates exclusivity, affordability, and third-party partnerships, reverts Microsoft Gaming name back to Xbox, and unveils a new logo as part of a ‘we can change’ mission statement. ID@Xbox 2026 Showcase also announced with reveals including Vaporworld, Mistfall Hunter, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, and Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive. (IGN) (Eurogamer) (IGN)

• Assassin’s Creed Hexe game director Benoit Richer announced his departure from Ubisoft via LinkedIn post. (IGN)

• Ubisoft reportedly canceled social-sim game Alterra after nearly three years at Ubisoft Montreal. (Game Developer)

• Sandfall Interactive released a new update for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s one-year anniversary adding cosmetics with a Steam sale. (Polygon)

• Capcom held a Resident Evil party featuring Geoff Keighley as Resident Evil Requiem reached 7 million sales. (VGC)

• Capcom thanked Shoji Kawamori for helping with Pragmata world-building and anime-style sci-fi feel. (VGC)

• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred gameplay deep dive released alongside Korn collaboration song ‘Reward The Scars’. (RPG Site)

• Overwatch crossover with Diablo 4 for 30th anniversary and Lord of Hatred brings back four skins and adds five new ones plus two free Twitch Drop charms starting April 28. (GameSpot)

• World of Warcraft’s latest patch contains numerous bugs prompting player concerns about Blizzard’s stability. (PC Gamer)

• Sega launched Sega Universe project to revive older IP with film, music, fashion, and entertainment under ‘No old, stay gold’ theme. (VGC)

• The Super Mario Galaxy Movie earned $747M at global box office, pushing the franchise past $2 billion with two films. (Game Developer)

• Shigeru Miyamoto expressed surprise at harsh reviews for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie which he helped make. (Eurogamer)

• Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed Princess Peach’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie lineage as canon in Mario games. (GameSpot)

• A24 and Alex Garland’s Elden Ring movie stars Kit Connor, Ben Whishaw, Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke releasing March 3, 2028 in IMAX. (Polygon)

• Larian publishing chief Michael Douse aims to demolish Steam records more than Baldur’s Gate 3 with the studio’s next release. (PC Gamer)

• Windrose sold 1 million copies and reached 222,134 peak concurrent Steam users on April 19 also topping Steam charts. (GameSpot)

• Forza Horizon 6 reportedly pre-sold 500,000 copies on Steam a month before launch. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• South Korean prime minister celebrated Crimson Desert stating K-games can shine as a pillar of K-content. (PC Gamer)

• Crimson Desert update adds boss changes, easy and hard difficulty options, more storage, control tweaks, and new cats. (Eurogamer)

• Genshin Impact’s next major region Snezhnaya launches August 12 as announced by miHoYo. (Gematsu)

• Zenless Zone Zero Version 2.8 introduces a new team comp mechanic and launches on Steam as announced in a Special Program by HoYoverse. (VG247)

• Housemarque improved its narrative process for Saros focusing on pacing, production, and performances. (Game Developer)

• Enter the Gungeon creators marked its 10th anniversary by commenting on the modern roguelike genre’s evolution after selling over 14 million copies. (PC Gamer)

• Dragon Ball New Game Project “AGE 1000” revealed as Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 for 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series, PC Steam. (RPG Site)

• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Super Limit Breaking NEO expansion DLC announced for summer. (Eurogamer)

• SonicFox and GO1 rematch in Dragon Ball FighterZ at Battle Hour 2026 resembled an anime fight. (Polygon)

• Dragon Ball FighterZ Update 1.50 released on Switch adding Goku (SS4, Daima) DLC and balance adjustments. (Nintendo Life)

• Toei forming gaming division starting with original IP as Kamen Rider and Power Rangers owner. (VGC)

• Koei Tecmo predicts 50% higher profit for FY2026 than forecast due to strong game sales and investments. (VGC)

• Behaviour Interactive laid off staff due to declined demand for mobile and casual external development projects. (PC Gamer)

• Iron Galaxy Studios announced more layoffs after early 2025 cuts while working on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4. (Eurogamer)

• Fired Unknown Worlds executives withdrew their claim that Krafton violated a court order by announcing Subnautica 2 release date. (Game Developer)

• Nagoshi Studio deleted its YouTube channel and all Gang of Dragon videos leaving only the Game Awards 2025 trailer. (GameSpot)

• Jolina Gisèle owns a Pokémon card collection spanning over 60,000 rare cards including multiples of Pikachu Illustrator and shadowless base set Charizard. (Polygon)

• RuneScape emergency patch rollback addressed bug giving players trillions of runes causing economic damage risk. (PC Gamer)

• Fortnite star David “D4vd” Burke charged with first-degree murder of Celeste Rivas by LA District Attorney. (Polygon)

• Clash of Clans added “Foot Tribute” bundle featuring Archer Queen. (GameSpot)

• Masters of Albion early access review notes it resurrects elements from Fable, Dungeon Keeper, and Black & White by 22Cans. (VGC)

• NTE: Neverness to Everness announced Persona 5 music crossover post-launch during Launch Preview Special Program. (Siliconera)

• Wistoria: Wand and Sword creators joined season 2 director Hideaki Nakano for a behind-the-scenes interview on the anime. (Polygon)

• Annapurna revealed Switch 2 titles including Sayonara Wild Hearts, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Stray, to a T, and Wanderstop with two out now. (Vooks)

• Yacht Club Games announced Mina the Hollower has gone gold ahead of its spring 2026 launch. (Nintendo Life)

• Heart Machine’s Possessor(s) launches on Switch 2 on April 29 published by Devolver Digital. (Nintendo Life)

• Splatoon Raiders Switch 2 physical edition priced at $59.99 releasing July 23 with box art revealed. (Nintendo Life)

• New Shiver, Frye, and Big Man Splatoon Raiders Edition amiibo launch July 23 alongside the game. (Nintendo Life)

• Disgaea Mayhem launches July 23 for PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and Steam. (RPG Site)

• Valve confirmed CS2 Cache map release for next week after teases including an X header change. (Hotspawn)

• Blizzard patched Overwatch on Switch 2 fixing FPS cap issue after poor launch performance. (Eurogamer)

• Street Fighter 6 DLC character Ingrid received gameplay trailer and release date. (Eurogamer)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves ‘Wolves’ Destiny’ update detailed with new trailers by SNK. (Gematsu)

• Nioh 3 free update on April 27 adds Battle Scrolls side missions and rewards enhancing endgame. (Siliconera)

• Stardust: Wish of Witch pixel art strategy RPG launches on Steam May 28. (RPG Site)

• Brigandine Abyss launches August 26 for PC and August 27 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2. (RPG Site)

• Aion 2 global version releases 2026 for PC via Steam with servers in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan, set 200 years after the 2008 original. (RPG Site)

• Beast of Reincarnation physical releases revealed for PS5 and Xbox Series X with pre-orders live. (RPG Site)

• Manafinder II pixel-art RPG set for PC release in 2027 as standalone sequel. (RPG Site)

• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers vinyl soundtrack available for pre-order in two variants shipping September 2026. (RPG Site)

• IO Interactive released trailer for 007 First Light highlighting Q Branch, Tactical Simulation Mode, outfits, and spycraft rules ahead of Switch 2 summer release. (Nintendo Life)

• Ecco the Dolphin Complete announced containing the first two games and a new contemporary game led by original creator Ed Annunziata. (VGC)

• Okami director Hideki Kamiya shared 20th anniversary message as sequel development continues. (Eurogamer)

• Supergiant Games announced a hotfix update for Hades II soon after a Switch update adding bonus content and fixes. (Nintendo Life)

• Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream received Version 1.0.1 update addressing several issues. (Nintendo Life)

• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream topped physical sales in France ahead of Resident Evil: Requiem. (Eurogamer)

• Mario Tennis Fever received Version 1.0.3 update on Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokemon Pokopia patch 1.0.4 addresses Pokemon Center relocation and event-related issues. (Siliconera)

• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book introduces systemic gameplay unique among Nintendo platformers in hands-on preview. (VGC)

• Bubsy 4D demo released for consoles after prior PC availability. (Gematsu)

• T1 support Keria re-signed with the organization until 2029. (Sheep Esports)

• Solary won their first EMEA Masters title defeating Galions in the final. (Sheep Esports)

• Royal Never Give Up (RNG) left LPL after rumors confirming its collapse as one of China’s greatest esports teams. (Hotspawn)

• FlyQuest criticized co-streaming amid a T1 loss, missing English broadcast, and other chaotic developments in League of Legends esports including G2 HEL revival. (Esports Insider)

• Esports Nations Cup 2026 League of Legends rosters and coaches listed for event in Saudi Arabia from November 21 to 29 after Worlds 2026. (Hotspawn)

• Dplus Kia reported $18 million capital deficit with 2025 revenues dropping 26% year-on-year. (Hotspawn)

• Fnatic CGO cArn stated the LEC team’s internal situation is healthier than perceived externally ahead of KC Roadtrip. (Sheep Esports)

• Former Dota 2 pro Tommy “Taiga” Le received a lifetime ban from Esports Integrity Commission. (Hotspawn)

• Esports hype is declining but events like Evo provide an answer by avoiding mainstream pursuits according to Esports Insider. (Esports Insider)

Thank you for reading, until next time!

Rachid

This edition will cover the week from 6 April to 12 April.

Let’s get this bad boy going.

What caught my attention

Team Liquid killed the final boss during the Race to World First. Celebrations started. Then L’ura came back. Secret phase. It had been datamined, but nobody expected it to look like this.

Liquid progressed on it, went to sleep, and assumed Echo would close the gap overnight. Echo got to sub 1% instead (again, after Dimensius). Then Liquid woke up, finished the job, 473 pulls deep into a two-week grind. Four wins in a row.

Nobody does this like Blizzard.

TLDR

• A24’s Elden Ring movie, adapted by Alex Garland, is set for 2027. (Polygon)

• Former Halo Studios art director and employees accuse the studio of harassment, bullying, and a cover-up of retaliation. (Game Developer)

• Riot Games unveils a major overhaul for VCT 2027 with open Cups and new qualification paths — the biggest structural reset competitive VALORANT has seen. (Sheep Esports)

• Super Mario becomes the only animated franchise to open above $350M globally twice, with Galaxy at $372.5M. (VGC)

• Pete Hines says he left Bethesda because he didn’t want to watch it get damaged and abused after the Microsoft acquisition. (PC Gamer)

Biggest releases of the week

Full roundup

• Wizards of the Coast is uploading the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, with the first 11 episodes now available to watch. (PC Gamer)

• Doki Doki Literature Club has been pulled from Google Play Store for violating Terms of Service over its depiction of sensitive themes. (Eurogamer)

• Blizzard wins injunction against vanilla WoW private server Turtle WoW following a cease and desist. (PC Gamer)

• A24’s Elden Ring movie is being adapted by writer-director Alex Garland for a 2027 release. (Polygon)

• Marvel Rivals creative director says the game is going to become a comprehensive Marvel “moving anime” experience. (PC Gamer)

• Gine, Gevous and Vil named as League of Legends head coaches for Italy, Netherlands and Austria at Esports Nations Cup 2026. (Sheep Esports)

• ESL FACEIT Group faces financial challenges despite Saudi involvement and backing. (Sheep Esports)

• Hades II will receive bonus content in an update on April 14 alongside Xbox and PS5 releases. (Nintendo Life)

• The Rogue Prince of Persia physical release is now available on Switch 1 and 2, standard edition at $34.99 and Immortal Edition at $49.99. (Nintendo Life)

• FGC shocked at Capcom’s low prize pools for Street Fighter 6 CPT tournaments despite Capcom Cup 12’s large payout. (Esports Insider)

• Epic Games will release an extraction shooter with Disney characters by end of year. (Eurogamer)

• City Masterplan is a highly realistic city-builder positioned as the first real competition Cities: Skylines has seen in over a decade. (PC Gamer)

• VALORANT esports is being affected by Patch 11.08, which reduced agent utility to rebalance gunplay and abilities. (Esports Insider)

• Riot Phroxzon, League’s Lead Gameplay Designer, admits the volume of changes made in 2025 felt like too much for players. (Sheep Esports)

• Arvindir set as Germany LoL coach and Kapio selected for VALORANT at Esports Nations Cup. (Sheep Esports)

• Pete Hines says he left Bethesda because he did not want to watch it get damaged and abused after the Microsoft acquisition. (PC Gamer)

• Capcom Pro Tour 2026 schedule updated with changes to regions and qualification processes. (Hotspawn)

• Blizzard is reworking old Overwatch heroes starting in season 2, with Mercy, Pharah and Reaper all getting changes. (Polygon)

• Twitch star calls out Mr. Beast over discomfort during his April 2025 Kick livestream to raise $5 million for clean water. (Polygon)

• Funcom is pivoting Dune: Awakening to PvE-first after data showed 80% of players never engaged with PvP. (Polygon)

• Amazon Luna no longer allows owners to buy games, access game stores, or third-party subscriptions. (IGN)

• Riot Games Korea posted over $330 million in revenues with positive net income for FY 2025. (Hotspawn)

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, which sold over 1.5 million copies, is coming to iOS and Android with cross-save. (Eurogamer)

• WoW’s next patch drops in just over a week, bringing world content and a new gearing method from ally Decimus. (PC Gamer)

• Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.2 anniversary update launches April 22 with limited 5-star characters Silver Wolf LV.999 and Evanescia. (RPG Site)

• Mortal Kombat II movie trailer features a cameo by MK co-creator Ed Boon, releasing May 8, 2026. (Nintendo Life)

• Mario Kart World updated to Version 1.6.1, fixing speed boost failures and game-ending bugs when switching between local and online play. (Nintendo Life)

• Honor of Kings: World closed PC alpha test registration is now open in select countries across North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. (RPG Site)

• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam release window pushed to late 2026 for Switch, Switch 2, PS5 and PC. (Siliconera)

• Gunzilla CEO apologizes over contractor payment delays, attributing some to company cash flow scheduling. (VGC)

• Nexon subsidiary Neople reorganized development teams as The First Berserker: Khazan enters its final stage, with no layoffs announced. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Esports still faces ongoing sexist situations despite increased diversity and willingness to speak up, per Ève “Colomblbl” Monvoisin. (Esports Insider)

• DecaPolice platforms updated to Switch 2, PS5 and PC via Steam, dropping all previous-gen platforms. (RPG Site)

• Crimson Desert dev update reveals plans for difficulty settings, boss rematches and additional content across platforms. (RPG Site)

• WoW fans spot a hint suggesting Blizzard may revisit the game’s least popular expansion in Midnight via a purple character plot twist. (IGN)

• Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse developers are carefully positioning it as a metroidvania without using the word. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo released Hello Yoshi for Switch, Android and iOS, free of charge, reviving the face-pulling antics of Super Mario 64. (Polygon)

• Of 500+ AI tools tested by Keywords Studios, only half a dozen proved genuinely useful, with AI still described as in a chaos phase. (VGC)

• Triple-i Initiative Showcase featured 40 game announcements including Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, new Temtem and Don’t Starve installments. (Polygon)

• Crema unveiled Temtem: Pioneers, a survival spin-off targeting the Palworld audience. (Eurogamer)

• Arkane Lyon imsim veteran says Crimson Desert does what other games do backwards, calling it a beautiful freak of nature. (PC Gamer)

• Ninjas in Pyjamas laid off Swedish staff and moved operations to Abu Dhabi. (Hotspawn)

• Valor Mortis, a first-person soulslike from Lyrical Games and One More Level, launches Fall 2026. (RPG Site)

• Nintendo confirms a summer release date for Rhythm Heaven / Paradise Groove on Switch. (VGC)

• Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition pre-orders on Amazon list the Switch 2 Game-Key Card at $79.99. (Nintendo Life)

• Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.5 site teases a potential return to the void for the next expansion. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox Achievements getting a major overhaul including the option to hide embarrassing games, pop-up customization and highlighting 100% completions. (Eurogamer)

• Avalanche co-founder says Liquid Swords’ debut game Samson launched with unacceptable bugs. (VGC)

• Three Namco NES games, including Game Freak’s first ever game, join Switch Online Nintendo Classics. (VGC)

• Mortal Kombat 1 has surpassed eight million units sold since September 2023 across all platforms. (Nintendo Life)

• Memento set to lead Morocco’s League of Legends team at Esports Nations Cup. (Sheep Esports)

• Esports Nations Cup 2026 VALORANT rosters and coaches selection updated with confirmed names and reported leaks. (Sheep Esports)

• FGC willing to gatekeep Evo against Tyler1 competing in Street Fighter 6. (Esports Insider)

• A WoW player recreated Counter-Strike’s Dust 2 inside the game’s housing tools, including a car made of wood, doormats and fruit plates. (PC Gamer)

• Papers, Please and Obra Dinn developer Lucas Pope won’t talk about his current project for fear it gets scraped by AI. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Overwatch’s new hero Sierra revealed with a grappling hook ability and strong lore hooks in her trailer. (GameSpot)

• Sierra’s new ability could dethrone Jetpack Cat as the most banned hero in Overwatch ranked. (PC Gamer)

• Hazelight Studios has passed 50 million units sold across A Way Out, It Takes Two and Split Fiction. (Eurogamer)

• Landfall’s new publishing label Evil Landfall will finance short-cycle, silly indie titles. (Game Developer)

• James Bond game 007 First Light delayed on Switch 2, still on track for May 27 on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X. (Polygon)

• Previously unseen early Tomb Raider: Legend gameplay footage has surfaced as the game turns 20. (Eurogamer)

• Pokémon Champions launched to mixed reception due to performance issues and competitive changes. (Eurogamer)

• No Man’s Sky Xeno Arena update adds a full Pokemon-style creature-collection and battle system as a standalone multiplayer mode. (PC Gamer)

• Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined updated to Version 1.2.0 on Switch 1 and 2, fixing progression issues. (Nintendo Life)

• F-Zero 99 updated to Version 1.7.1, addressing multiple issues. (Nintendo Life)

• Forza Horizon 6 is reportedly getting a limited edition Xbox wireless controller and headset. (VGC)

• Assassin’s Creed Shadows update adds PSSR 2 upscaling for PS5 Pro and keyboard/mouse support on Switch 2. (VGC)

• Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen will receive the BAFTA Fellowship at this year’s BAFTA Game Awards. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Spain selects mithy for LoL, thinkii for VALORANT and MusambaN1 for CS2 at ENC 2026. (Sheep Esports)

• French Flair eliminated from EMEA Masters, ending the project before reaching top 4. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot Games unveils a major overhaul for VALORANT Champions Tour 2027 with open Cups, new qualification paths and expanded global tournaments. (Sheep Esports)

• Capcom teases Okami 20th anniversary celebrations later this month. (Nintendo Life)

• Bungie is strengthening its zero-tolerance cheating policy in Marathon amid growing player frustration, also addressing toxicity and stream sniping. (PC Gamer)

• Cyberpunk 2077’s new PS5 Pro update with enhanced support rolls out Thursday. (Polygon)

• A dataminer discovered an unused Elden Ring cutscene in Malenia’s boss map involving Miquella. (Polygon)

• A Pokopia player spent 260 hours over 22 days recreating an underground Cyberpunk city. (PC Gamer)

• Team Liquid becomes 4-peat WoW Race to World First champions after 473 pulls and a dramatic secret final phase. (PC Gamer)

• WoW’s Race to World First featured an ultra-secret final raid phase on March on Quel’Danas that blindsided the entire field. (IGN)

• Raven Software co-founder Brian Raffel retires after 36 years in the games industry. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Sea of Stars is now available on iOS and Android with a 10% launch discount until April 14. (RPG Site)

• Nintendo Switch 2 System Update 22.1.0 is now live with stability improvements. (Nintendo Life)

• France manager YellOwStaR addresses the Caliste/Hans Sama debate and CS2 constraints for ZywOo and apEX at Esports Nations Cup. (Sheep Esports)

• Riftbound French release set for May 29 with an accelerated roadmap targeting global sync by Radiance in October 2026. (Sheep Esports)

• Former Halo Studios art director and employees accuse the studio of harassment, bullying and retaliation cover-up. (Game Developer)

• Magic: The Gathering’s TMNT Universes Beyond set includes the Big Apple, 3 a.m. card. (GameSpot)

• Pragmata features a mysterious lunar setting and puzzle-action combat blend. (GameSpot)

• Monolith Soft talks up Ganondorf’s design in a new Tears of the Kingdom development interview. (Nintendo Life)

• Super Mario becomes the only animated movie series to open globally above $350M twice, with Galaxy at $372.5M. (VGC)

This edition will cover the week from 23 March to 29 March.

What caught my attention

Epic laid off over a thousand people this week. Sweeney followed up by telling the market they’d be receiving resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality.” Fortnite still makes billions. Disney is still in, and yet. The industry has been doing this for three years straight, and it’s not getting any less grim.

TLDR

• Epic Games laid off 1,000+ workers despite billions in annual Fortnite revenue, with CEO Tim Sweeney telling the market they’d be receiving resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality.” (Polygon)

• Sony raised PS5 to $649.99 and PS5 Pro to $899.99 in the US, with a ~£90 hike in the UK, starting April 2, citing global economic pressures. (Eurogamer)

• Four Nacon subsidiaries — Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech — filed for insolvency. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• John and Brenda Romero stated that the current industry crash is worse than the 1980s recession, following the downsizing of Romero Games. (Eurogamer)

• PUBG: Blindspot ceases operations on March 30 after less than two months in early access. (GameSpot)

Full roundup

• Indie stealth game Lizard State was announced, inspired by classic PS2-era games featuring a spec-ops character crouch-walking past a guard in a sewer. (PC Gamer)

• DLSS 5’s AI-generated game enhancement received negative reception in the gaming community while V-Rally 3 on Game Boy Advance with its 16MHz processor garnered praise. (IGN)

• Epic Games laid off 1,000 workers despite billions in annual Fortnite revenue. (Polygon)

• Crimson Desert Patch 1.01 rolled out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, removing some AI-generated art, adding five new mounts, and making control and quality-of-life tweaks. (Polygon)

• Digital Extremes released a side-by-side comparison trailer for Warframe on Switch 2 versus Switch, highlighting higher resolution textures, improved lighting, DLSS support, and 60fps target. (Nintendo Life)

• Death Stranding 2’s PC port pushed sales past 2 million copies. (PC Gamer)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated the studio will solve insurance for programmer Mike with terminal brain cancer caught in the mass layoff. (PC Gamer)

• Game Freak designed Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen remakes primarily to appeal to girls and the elderly. (Polygon)

• Team Cherry released a patch for nine-year-old Hollow Knight addressing a slightly longer than intended mechanic in the final boss fight. (Eurogamer)

• Vitality swept NAVI to win BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026. (Hotspawn)

• Elder Scrolls: Blades is shutting down on mobile and Switch on June 30, with all store items now ultra-cheap. (PC Gamer)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Season 2 DLC character Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star launches in June. (Gematsu)

• Outsider AAA studios from outside traditional gaming heartlands are making epics like Black Myth: Wukong, Phantom Blade Zero, and Kingdom Come. (Polygon)

• Former Warhorse Studios translator alleges being fired to be replaced by AI. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft’s Project Helix could be better for gamers than Series X but worse for Xbox by enabling play anywhere. (PC Gamer)

• Ubisoft celebrated its 40-year anniversary on March 28, with Zombi released in 1986 as its debut game. (GameSpot)

• RPG Maker will soon allow games in the style of Octopath Traveler in its first major visual overhaul. (PC Gamer)

• Meta reportedly laid off around 700 workers across several divisions including Reality Labs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Switch 2 version of Devil May Cry 5 rated as Devil Hunter Edition by Taiwanese ratings board. (VGC)

• German games market grew 4% in 2025 to €9.4 billion driven by console hardware sales, particularly Nintendo Switch 2 launch. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Capcom released a free update for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection adding powerful Royal Monsters, with story DLC potentially arriving sooner than expected. (Eurogamer)

• LPL issued a lifetime ban to TES jungler naiyou following a match-fixing case. (Sheep Esports)

• Supergiant Games announced Hades II coming to Xbox and PlayStation on April 14, 2026, included in Xbox Game Pass. (RPG Site)

• Hades 2 console release trailer teases a new steamy scene alongside bonus content and quality-of-life improvements in the April 14 update. (PC Gamer)

• Star Wars: Zero Company features a Fire Emblem-style permadeath mode where characters can die permanently. (GameSpot)

• Overwatch revealed only 32% of players stayed loyal to Winston until the end of the Conquest event. (PC Gamer)

• John and Brenda Romero stated the current video game industry crash is worse than the 1980s recession after downsizing Romero Games. (Eurogamer)

• Sony announced price increases for PS5, PS5 Pro, and Portal starting April 2 due to global economic pressures, with the base PS5 rising around £90 in the UK. (Eurogamer)

• Sony raising PS5 to $649.99 and PS5 Pro to $899.99 in the US starting April 2. (Polygon)

• Pearl Abyss CEO confirmed Switch 2 R&D for Crimson Desert is underway as the game nears 5 million sales, with compromises required. (VGC)

• Pearl Abyss CEO sympathized with player disappointment over Crimson Desert’s story, acknowledging it could have been better. (IGN)

• Crimson Desert reached Very Positive on Steam and 3 million sales, with Pearl Abyss promising continued improvements. (PC Gamer)

• Top Esports announced the return of JackeyLove and the arrival of Tian in the jungle for LPL Split 2. (Sheep Esports)

• Team Heretics added FEBIVEN as positional coach in the LEC. (Sheep Esports)

• NLC payment issues highlight broader esports industry problems, with frequent reports of unpaid players, casters, and staff. (Esports Insider)

• Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone denied any leaks and confirmed marriage candidates won’t get hitched without player involvement. (PC Gamer)

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End confirmed for season 3 with a 2027 release window announced at Anime Japan. (Polygon)

• Path of Exile’s richest player and item trading kingpin was banned, with a plea to restore over 1,500 items, some of which can never be recreated. (PC Gamer)

• PUBG: Blindspot early access from ARC Team ceases operations on March 30 after less than two months. (GameSpot)

• Persona 4 Revival was absent from the March Xbox Partner Showcase, with no Persona 6 appearance either. (Polygon)

• Amazon’s God of War series cast a Lost and For All Mankind actress as Freya, Queen of the Valkyries. (Eurogamer)

• Sony testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store, with Stellar Blade spotted at $39.89 and $20.99 in Brazil versus the normal $69.99. (Eurogamer)

• Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Stranger Than Heaven spans five distinct time periods and five Japanese cities, confirmed to be set in the Yakuza universe. (Eurogamer)

• Pragmata’s devs created human-made assets designed to mimic the uncanny feel of LLM-generated art. (PC Gamer)

• Former Apex Legends developer was rehired by Respawn after leaving for Highguard, which shut down earlier this year. (Eurogamer)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said employers will see resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality” after laying off over 1,000 people. (PC Gamer)

• Fortnite layoffs included artist Vitaliy Naymushin, who designed Jonesy after 11 years at Epic. (GameSpot)

• Horizon Chase Turbo, developed by Aquiris (now owned by Epic), is being delisted in June. (PC Gamer)

• Fortnite producer asked for patience post-layoffs as the team picks up the pieces, with unknown impacts for the rest of the year and beyond. (Eurogamer)

• Saros begins with protagonist Arjun Devraj waking on an alien planet, similar in setup to Returnal’s Selene Vassos on Atropos. (GameSpot)

• Pro World of Warcraft player disconnected mid-fight in the Midnight world first race after forgetting to use a WoW token to renew his subscription. (PC Gamer)

• Infamous WoW guild exploited their way to a world first in the Midnight raid until Blizzard voided their instant 300 million damage. (PC Gamer)

• Unity beat Q1 financial estimates, powering upcoming titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Peak, and Replaced. (IGN)

• Wuthering Waves coming to Xbox as a Play Anywhere title in July with Game Pass subscriber perks. (RPG Site)

• Capcom patching Alex’s storyline in Street Fighter 6 after fan outcry over incest references involving his second cousin and step-sister Patricia. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft hosted the March 2026 Xbox Partner Preview showcasing third-party partners. (IGN)

• Meta Quest usage reached an all-time high in 2025 with over 100 titles generating more than $1 million in gross revenue, despite studio closures and layoffs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Mega Man DLC pack released for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds including two racers, a new car, track, and music. (VGC)

• Minecraft’s Tiny Takeover update overhauled baby mobs, with product manager Anna Lundgren saying nothing is off the table for future drops. (GameSpot)

• War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius shuts down in Japan on May 28, a year after the global server closure. (RPG Site)

• SaGa series illustrator Satoshi Kuramochi left Square Enix in February 2026 to go freelance. (RPG Site)

• LFL secured at least one spot for the Esports World Cup EMEA Qualifier. (Sheep Esports)

• Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed a new trailer for Stranger Than Heaven at the March 2026 Xbox Partner Preview. (IGN)

• Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish announced at Xbox Partner Showcase for Summer 2027, set in the World of Darkness. (Eurogamer)

• AdHoc Studio bringing Dispatch to Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Cloud this summer as a Play Anywhere title. (Eurogamer)

• GSC Game World announced the Stalker 2: Cost of Hope expansion for Summer 2026 at Xbox Partner Showcase, set at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Eurogamer)

• Devolver Digital and Behavior Interactive announced Serious Sam: Shatterverse, a co-op roguelite FPS for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. (Eurogamer)

• Neuralink patient raiding World of Warcraft hands-free after 100 days with the implant installed calls it pure magic. (PC Gamer)

• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream demo released with a robust character creator, and Nintendo’s strict media sharing rules are already being tested. (IGN)

• Donkey Kong Bananza uses a smart approach to 3D asset recycling. (Game Developer)

• Disney committed to building a games and entertainment universe with Epic Games inside Fortnite, despite the layoffs. (GameSpot)

• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director defended DLSS 5, saying no haters will stop it and calling it an uncanny beginning. (PC Gamer)

• Four Nacon subsidiaries including Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech filed for insolvency. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Chainsaw Man chapter 232 concluded the manga with 1.1 million views on Manga Plus, surpassing One Piece. (Polygon)

• Pokémon Champions director Masaaki Hoshino discussed the fighting game spirit behind the competitive battler. (VGC)

• Marathon sold roughly 1.2 million copies worldwide, with the majority on Steam rather than PlayStation per analyst estimates. (Eurogamer)

• Team17 parent Everplay reported flat revenue but a 10% gross profit increase for 2025. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Peter Molyneux’s Masters of Albion enters Steam early access April 22, with closed beta registration closing soon. (Eurogamer)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder updated to version 1.2.0 with tweaks for the Switch 2 Edition. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon Champions development director wants turn-based battles to continue forever, amid the Legends: Z-A real-time shift. (GameSpot)

• Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition patch in mid-April improves input lag, rewind, and save data. (Nintendo Life)

• Forza Horizon 6 PC system requirements revealed with modest specs, launching May 19. (IGN)

• Marvel Rivals confirmed for Switch 2 by Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo. (Nintendo Life)

• YellOwStaR appointed as France’s ENC 2026 National Team Manager. (Sheep Esports)

• New claims of discrimination in the ERL League of Legends esports scene from a pro player post. (Sheep Esports)

• Warframe now available for Switch 2. (Gematsu)

• CoD: Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 3 launches April 2 with new maps, guns, a new Verdansk POI, Zombies map, and free Endgame mode. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon Pokopia player recreated Breath of the Wild’s Rito Village and Divine Beast Vah Medoh in-game. (Nintendo Life)

• Nintendo setting digital prices lower than physical for Switch 2 first-party exclusives starting with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book at $59.99 digital and $69.99 physical. (Nintendo Life)

• CI Games and Hexworks released a Lords of the Fallen II Umbral Gameplay trailer. (Gematsu)

• Mewgenics confirmed for Switch 2 and PS5 one month after its PC launch on Steam. (Eurogamer)

• Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege REDACTED event runs March 25 to April 8 with a stealth gameplay twist. (Hotspawn)

• Pokémon Champions getting a free update for Switch 2 at launch. (Nintendo Life)

• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Welcome Version demo available now, with save transfer confirmed for the full game. (Eurogamer)

• Mario Wonder’s Switch 2 Edition features Bellabel Park with multiplayer challenges and solo content. (VGC)

• Bungie shifting Marathon endgame content so players won’t be forced to choose between ranked and Cryo Archive weekend queues. (Eurogamer)

• Cygames ending Shadowverse service on PC and mobile on June 30, 2026, after ten years, with crystal and card bundle sales now ceased. (Siliconera)

• Pokémon Pokopia’s second limited-time event adds Sableye in late April. (Eurogamer)

• Half-Life 2 writer Erik Wolpaw stated some at Valve are looking at AI tools but he is not worried. (PC Gamer)

• Pokémon Champions boosts Mega Meganium, vindicating Chikorita from Gold and Silver in competitive play. (Polygon)

• Genshin Impact Luna VI update on April 8 adds character Linnea and new Monstadt locations including Temple of Space. (Siliconera)

• Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok ‘Meet the Crew: Eustace’ trailer released. (Gematsu)

• Persona 6 and Persona 4 Revival remained absent from Atlus’s 2026 plans shown at the Xbox Partner Showcase. (Polygon)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate Gold Edition released on Switch eShop, bundling the base game with the Casey Jones expansion and Metalhead DLC. (Nintendo Life)

• Gotcha Gotcha Games released a teaser trailer for a new RPG Maker project. (Gematsu)

• Saros gameplay shown for three hours covering the opening area, shield mechanics, weapons, exploration, eclipse events, and a boss fight. (GameSpot)

This edition covers March 22nd to March 29th.

What caught my attention

Claude 4.6 is still the best model I use daily. But the recent outages, token limit adjustments, and quiet policy shifts are adding up - and I’m not the only one noticing.

There’s a specific kind of frustration that comes from a tool you rely on daily becoming less reliable while getting more restrictive.

Anthropic is clearly under pressure: IPO timeline, Pentagon lawsuits, subscriber growth pulling at infrastructure. Something has to give. I’m not switching yet... But I’m watching the next wave of Chinese open-source models more closely than I was a month ago.

TLDR

• Sora is dead — OpenAI is shutting down its flagship video product. App closes in April, API in September. A $1B Disney deal goes with it. (The Verge)

• Claude Mythos leaked — A data breach exposed a new Anthropic model with dramatically higher benchmark scores than any previous Opus. Anthropic confirmed it exists. (The Decoder)

• SoftBank’s $40B loan points to OpenAI IPO — JPMorgan and Goldman backed a 12-month unsecured bridge loan for SoftBank’s OpenAI stake. The structure only makes sense with a 2026 IPO on the horizon. (TechCrunch AI)

• AI sycophancy confirmed in Science — Models agree with users 50% more than humans do, making people less likely to reconsider or apologise. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic vs. the Pentagon — A judge blocked the DoD’s supply chain ban on Anthropic tools. Separately, Anthropic is in active talks with the Pentagon on autonomous weapons. Fighting and negotiating simultaneously. (The Verge / Bloomberg)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Anthropic confirmed that a leaked model (Claude Mythos) marks a step change in reasoning capabilities, following a data breach that revealed its existence. (The Decoder)

• Google released Gemini 3.1 Flash Live across its products, a real-time multimodal voice model built for low-latency audio, video, and tool use. (Google AI Blog)

• Google introduced Gemini API Agent Skill to close the knowledge gap AI models have about their own post-training SDK updates. (The Decoder)

• Cohere released an open-source speech recognition model that outperforms OpenAI’s Whisper and other competitors on benchmarks. (The Decoder)

• Mistral released Voxtral TTS, an open-source speech generation model compact enough to run on a smartwatch or smartphone. (TechCrunch AI)

• Meta researchers developed hyperagents — AI systems that can solve tasks and simultaneously improve their own learning mechanisms. (The Decoder)

• A Science study found AI models agree with users 50% more than humans do, making users less likely to apologise or reconsider their positions. (The Decoder)

Products & Tools

• OpenAI is shutting down Sora: the app closes April 2026, the API in September, with focus shifting to coding and enterprise products. (The Verge)

• OpenAI halted “Adult Mode” erotic chatbot development indefinitely after pushback from advisors, investors, and employees. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI added a plugin marketplace to Codex, including skills, app integrations, and MCP bundles — closing some of the gap with Claude Code. (Ars Technica)

• Apple’s iOS 27 will let users link Siri to third-party AI chatbots like Gemini or Claude, directly from the App Store. (The Verge)

• Google Gemini added tools to import memories and chat history from ChatGPT and Claude via simple prompts. (The Decoder)

• Suno released v5.5 with Voices, My Taste, and Custom Models, giving users more control over AI music generation. (The Verge)

• Bluesky launched Attie, an AI app using the atproto protocol to build custom feeds. (TechCrunch AI)

• TikTok’s AI ad disclosure policy failed to label generative AI content in Samsung promotions, exposing gaps in synthetic ad detection. (The Verge)

• Wikipedia updated policies to restrict AI-generated content in article writing. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Meta raised its El Paso, Texas AI data center investment from $1.5B to $10B, targeting 1GW of capacity by 2028. (CNBC)

• Meta funded seven new natural gas-fired plants to power its Louisiana data center. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Data center expansions are triggering global conflicts over power grids, utility bills, communities, and environmental impact. (The Verge)

• A Kentucky woman turned down a $26M offer for her land as AI infrastructure pushback grows. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia and Arm highlighted CPUs’ renewed importance in the AI era, with Nvidia showcasing its Vera CPU at GTC. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google’s TurboQuant memory compression technique triggered a selloff in SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron shares — though analysts pushed back on the threat. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google’s TurboQuant named specifically: CNBC tracked the same selloff across the three major memory chip stocks. (CNBC)

• Nvidia saw its first bout of retail investor selling since July amid a broader shift away from the AI rally. (Bloomberg Technology)

• AI adoption is pushing businesses to treat a secondary internet connection as a critical infrastructure requirement. (Light Reading)

• Physical Intelligence, founded by ex-DeepMind researchers, is in talks for $1B in funding at an $11B valuation for general-purpose robot AI. (Bloomberg Technology)

Regulation & Policy

• EU regulators proposed banning AI nudification apps — including Grok — from generating unauthorized sexually explicit content. (Social Media Today)

• Anthropic won a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon’s supply chain risk ban on its AI tools. (The Verge)

• Anthropic is separately in active discussions with the Pentagon over the future of AI in autonomous weapons. (Bloomberg Technology)

• David Sacks stepped down as Trump’s AI czar but stays on the White House Technology committee. (TechCrunch AI)

• Beijing launched a review of Meta’s Manus acquisition, raising concerns for Chinese founders using Singapore entities to sidestep scrutiny. (CNBC)

• Krach Institute CEO Michelle Giuda argued the US should rely on allied nations to back the American AI tech stack against China. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Meta’s Oversight Board warned that Community Notes are too slow and understaffed to counter AI disinformation at scale. (The Decoder)

Business & Funding

• SoftBank secured a $40B unsecured 12-month loan from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to fund its OpenAI stake — widely read as pointing to a 2026 IPO. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic is considering an IPO as soon as October, putting it in direct competition with OpenAI for public market timing. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI and Anthropic’s revenue figures are hard to compare ahead of their IPOs due to different cloud partnership accounting methods. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic’s Claude paid subscriptions more than doubled this year, with consumer user estimates now at 18–30 million. (TechCrunch AI)

• Eli Lilly signed a $2.75B deal with Insilico Medicine for AI-discovered drugs, with $115M upfront. (CNBC)

• Shield AI raised $2B and plans to acquire simulation software maker Aechelon for autonomous military drones, with Ukraine among its government clients. (NYT)

• Elon Musk’s last remaining xAI co-founder reportedly departed, leaving just two of the original 11. (TechCrunch AI)

• Moonshot AI is exploring a Hong Kong IPO as AI stocks continue to climb. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Pony AI reported its first profitable quarter and plans to expand robotaxis to 20 cities. (Bloomberg Technology)

• An ex-Coatue trader launched a hedge fund powered by Eve, an AI system handling day-to-day operations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• BNP Paribas plans to deploy an AI companion for all staff to cut costs bank-wide. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Anthropic reportedly views itself as the antidote to OpenAI’s approach to AI safety, rooted in early internal conflicts at OpenAI. (The Decoder)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic’s second Economic Index found that longer Claude usage improves user outcomes — but risks widening economic inequality between skilled and unskilled users. (The Decoder)

• Meta suffered two courtroom losses over allegations it knew about product harms, raising fresh concerns for AI research and consumer safety. (CNBC)

• CBS News poll found rising AI awareness is directly linked to public expectations of fewer available jobs. (CBS News)

• The CEOs of Coca-Cola and Walmart both cited incoming AI waves as a factor in their departures. (CNBC)

• Bloomberg’s senior editor compared the AI boom to the 1990s internet surge, noting key elements still missing from the current wave. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Goldman’s new adviser Rishi Sunak urged small UK firms to adopt AI at a Birmingham event, warning of the cost of ignoring it. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google AI Blog published a conversation between James Manyika and LL COOL J on AI and creativity. (Google AI Blog)

What caught my attention

Nvidia had a strange week.

Jensen Huang took the GTC stage, projected $1 trillion in AI chip sales, and spent part of his keynote on OpenClaw before announcing NemoClaw, a reference stack to make it enterprise-ready.

The gentleman who made billions selling shovels is now paving the road to the gold mine. Maybe the “AI commodity threat” is real, after all? :)

Meanwhile, DLSS 5 was announced, and gamers hated it (See my Patch Notes #64). Uncanny visuals, developer pushback. Strange place to be for a company that used to be the unambiguous hero of PC gaming - before crypto made their cards unaffordable, before AI made them a Wall Street story. The original fanbase got priced out somewhere along the way.

Both things happened in the same week. That’s the Nvidia Arc in miniature.

TLDR

• Nvidia GTC: Jensen Huang projected $1 trillion in AI chip sales through 2027, announced NemoClaw as an enterprise-ready open-source stack for OpenClaw, and declared every company needs an agentic AI strategy. (TechCrunch AI)

• Chinese AI company MiniMax released M2.7, which reportedly participated in its own development through autonomous optimization loops. (The Decoder)

• Google revamped Stitch into a full AI design platform with infinite canvas, voice interaction, and MCP integration with Claude Code and Cursor — free tier, Figma exports. Figma shares dropped 8%. (Winbuzzer)

• The US Defense Department established Palantir’s Maven AI system as a program of record for integration into combat operations. (Bloomberg Technology).

  NOTE: new Terminator script looking mighty fine.

• OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT. (CNBC Tech)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Chinese AI company MiniMax released M2.7, which reportedly participated in its own development through autonomous optimization loops. (The Decoder)

• Xiaomi launched three MiMo AI models to power AI agents, robots, and voice capabilities that can control software and shop in browsers. (The Decoder)

• Qualcomm AI Research developed a modular system compressing reasoning chains by 2.4x for on-device language models. (The Decoder)

• Andrej Karpathy reported an autonomous agent optimized his training setup overnight, finding improvements missed despite his two decades of experience. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki now uses AI for experiments that previously took a week, though he does not trust it for designing complex systems. (The Decoder)

• Terence Tao stated AI reduces idea generation cost in mathematics to near zero but shifts the bottleneck to verification, requiring new infrastructure. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI is refocusing research on building a fully automated AI researcher agent for complex problems. (MIT Tech Review)

Products & Tools

• Cursor released Composer 2, its second-generation AI model for software development built on Chinese open-source Kimi K2.5 to match leading models at lower costs. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI published a prompting playbook to help front-end designers achieve better results from GPT-5.4 when building websites and apps while preventing fallback to generic designs. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and Atlas browser into a single desktop superapp after deeming its multi-product strategy flawed. (The Decoder)

• Gemini’s new task automation feature on Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S26 Ultra enables the AI to use a limited subset of apps like food delivery and rideshare services. (The Verge AI)

• Adobe expanded Firefly to bundle over 30 AI models and allow training custom styles on user images. (The Decoder)

• WordPress.com introduced AI agents that can write and publish posts. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google expanded Universal Commerce Protocol with shopping cart, catalog, and loyalty features for AI agents. (The Decoder)

• Google pulled back on browser AI development as coding agents gain preference in industry. (The Decoder)

• Google revamped Stitch into a full AI design platform with infinite canvas, voice interaction, and MCP integration with Claude Code and Cursor — free with 350 monthly generations, exports to Figma. Figma shares dropped 8% on the news. (Winbuzzer)

• OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI’s first online shopping attempt with Instant Checkout faced inaccuracies in item information and merchant onboarding difficulties with partners like Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify. (CNBC Tech)

• Walmart’s test showed ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than its own website. (MarTech)

• Microsoft reduced Copilot AI entry points on Windows in apps like Photos, Widgets, and Notepad. (TechCrunch AI)

• OpenAI acquired Astral, maker of popular Python developer tools, for its Codex AI coding platform. (The Decoder)

• iNaturalist app identifies plant, animal, and insect species while providing data to scientists on biodiversity, species decline, and habitat loss. (CBS News Tech)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Elon Musk announced Terafab, a chip plant in Austin jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX to produce chips at scale for robotics, AI, and space-based data centers. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a GTC keynote projecting $1 trillion in AI chip sales through 2027 and declaring every company needs an OpenClaw strategy. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia’s GTC conference demonstrated industry confidence despite investor fears of an AI bubble, with Wall Street remaining unconvinced. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia struck a multi-year deal with AWS to deliver around one million AI processors by end of 2027, including GPUs, networking, and inference chips. (Capacity Global)

• AWS invited a tour of its Trainium chip lab following a $50 billion investment announcement in OpenAI. (TechCrunch AI)

• SoftBank plans a massive AI data center on federally owned land in Ohio powered by $33 billion in natural gas-fired electricity by end of decade. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Alibaba shipped 470,000 AI chips and predicts $100 billion in future cloud and AI revenue. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Bezos-backed Blue Origin filed for approval to place data centers in space. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Data centers are forcing utilities to adopt a new playbook for renewable energy deployment amid mounting pressure. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Power shortages for AI data centers create investment opportunities in energy tech. (TechCrunch AI)

• Saudi Arabia’s Edarat secured a data center contract from a major regional bank and was selected for AI data center design and supervision services. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Supermicro co-founder resigned from board after China GPU smuggling charge involving $2.5 billion in servers, with shares down 33%. (Data Center Dynamics)

• OpenAI outlined a more tempered infrastructure strategy, moving away from an ambitious Nvidia agreement ahead of a potential IPO. (CNBC Tech)

Regulation & Policy

• The Trump administration released AI guidelines recommending federal preemption of state laws, innovation focus, and shifting child safety burden to parents. (TechCrunch AI)

• The US Defense Department established Palantir’s Maven AI system as a program of record for integration into combat operations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• The Department of Defense alleged Anthropic could manipulate models during war, which company executives denied as impossible. (Wired AI)

• Democratic senators Warren and Blumenthal queried Nvidia’s $20 billion licensing deal with Groq for potential antitrust violations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Palantir doubled down on AI for battlefield advantage at its developer conference amid business growth. (Wired AI)

• Europe shows high AI adoption and talent matching the US but relies on foreign platforms due to infrastructure, regulation, and funding gaps. (The Decoder)

Business & Funding

• OpenAI plans to almost double its headcount by end of 2026 to compete with Anthropic and Google. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Alibaba and Tencent lost $66 billion in market value after failing to outline clear AI profit visions. (Bloomberg Technology)

• xAI is sending engineers to prospective corporate client offices to win business from OpenAI and Anthropic. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Uber invested $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of its bet on AI. (AI Business)

• AI startup Yotta Data Services seeks $4 billion valuation ahead of IPO, operating India’s largest Nvidia AI processor cluster. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Chinese robot maker Unitree Robotics filed for a $610 million IPO in Shanghai. (Bloomberg Technology)

Society & Culture

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated he would be deeply alarmed if a $500K developer spent less than $250K on AI tokens. (The Decoder)

• AI tokens are being considered as a potential new pillar of engineering compensation alongside salary. (TechCrunch AI)

• Tech workers at companies compete on leaderboards to maximize AI usage, incurring large bills. (NYT Technology)

• Companies are using AI as a reason for layoffs amid complex truths. (NYT Technology)

• A survey found 95% of UK students use generative AI, with experiences divided between deepening learning and replacing independent thinking. (The Decoder)

• Studies show public resistance to AI despite corporate enthusiasm for deployment. (The Verge AI)

• FedEx began delivering AI literacy training to over 400,000 workers worldwide. (CNBC Tech)

• DoorDash launched a Tasks app where gig workers are paid to record videos of tasks like laundry and eggs to train AI. (Wired AI)

• AI tools like Claude are assisting Americans in filing taxes by navigating the US tax system. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Crimson Desert developer apologized for using AI-generated art in the game, stating it was intended to be replaced before release. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia’s DLSS 5 AI upscaling technology received criticism from gamers for uncanny visuals. (Wired AI)

• Director Valerie Veatch discussed her experience with OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video model and artist communities sharing AI creations. (The Verge AI)

• Yale Budget Lab’s Executive Director discussed how 19th-century novels documenting the industrial revolution inform potential societal impacts of the AI revolution. (Bloomberg Technology)

This edition will cover the week from 16 March to 22 March.

What caught my attention

Jeff Kaplan revealed The Legend of California eleven days ago. Gold Rush survival shooter, new studio Kintsugiyama, published by Dreamhaven. There was a 5-hour Lex Fridman sit-down, a short trailer, and then a 10-hour dev stream where the team just played an early, openly buggy build and talked it through. No cinematic trailer event. No countdown clock.

It felt very chill/natural. It worked. But let’s be honest - it worked because it’s Jeff Kaplan and friends. Twenty years of community trust don’t come with a template. The candid approach is worth admiring. It’s not worth copying if you don’t have the audience to make silence feel like mystique.

TLDR

• Crimson Desert launched to 2 million copies in 24 hours, Received Mixed Steam reviews, sparked an AI art scandal, faced controls backlash, and had an exec who compared learning the game to riding a bike. (PC Gamer)

• Savvy Games Group agreed to acquire Moonton Games for $6 billion, five years after ByteDance paid $4 billion for it. (Game Developer)

• NVIDIA announced DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 to strong backlash — some developers learned of it at the same time as the public, and Jensen Huang called the critics completely wrong. (GameSpot)

• GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 attendance dropped 30% to 20,000 visitors. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Slay the Spire 2 players left over 9,000 negative Steam reviews in one day over a card nerf that had not even gone live yet. (PC Gamer)

Biggest releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Crimson Desert launched to 2 million copies sold in under 24 hours across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with Pearl Abyss promising to work quickly on improvements. (PC Gamer)

• Pearl Abyss launched a comprehensive audit of all in-game assets after admitting undisclosed AI-generated images were found in the final release. (IGN)

• Crimson Desert players reported clunky controls and filed launch day refund requests. (Eurogamer)

• Nvidia announced DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 with AI-powered per-pixel lighting and material properties, to strong backlash. (GameSpot)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang responded to DLSS 5 backlash, stating critics are completely wrong. (IGN)

• Capcom and Ubisoft developers said they found out about the DLSS 5 announcement at the same time as the public. (PC Gamer)

• Former Overwatch boss Jeff Kaplan advised gamers who complain about games they’ll never play to shut the f*** up, saying no one cares. (IGN)

• Jeff Kaplan revealed he warned Blizzard that the cancelled MMO Titan was heading for disaster before its shutdown. (Eurogamer)

• Mojang announced Minecraft Dungeons 2, Minecraft World, Tiny Takeover and other titles at Minecraft Live March 2026. (IGN)

• Minecraft Dungeons 2 is coming this fall. (GameSpot)

• Slay the Spire 2’s first major post-launch patch includes a large balance pass, new art and VFX, and a Phobia Mode to make infinites harder. (IGN)

• Slay the Spire 2 players left over 9,000 negative Steam reviews in one day over a card nerf that had not even gone live yet, with China’s Steam restrictions possibly a factor. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo is launching a Switch 2 revision in Europe with a user-replaceable battery to comply with EU consumer law. (Eurogamer)

• Savvy Games Group agreed to acquire Moonton Games for $6 billion, after ByteDance paid $4 billion for the company in 2021. (Game Developer)

• Saudi Arabia firm EGDC now holds a 5% stake in Capcom, with the Public Investment Fund holding another 5% since 2022. (Game Developer)

• Capcom confirmed Resident Evil Requiem passed 6 million sales, making it the fastest-selling game in the series, with extra content planned. (VGC)

• Ubisoft shifted Red Storm Entertainment to a tech support role and laid off 105 developers. (Eurogamer)

• Crystal Dynamics eliminated another 20 roles including development and operations staff. (Game Developer)

• Team Liquid was hit by new layoffs seven months after its previous wave, with staff departures confirmed via social media. (Sheep Esports)

• GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 attendance dropped 30% to 20,000 visitors. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Bethesda boss Todd Howard said he was “really, really sorry” to see Phil Spencer retire and commented on incoming CEO Asha Sharma. (GameSpot)

• Todd Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement has made him rethink what he publicly commits to, suggesting players should “pretend we didn’t announce it.” (IGN)

• Starfield is coming to PS5 on April 7 alongside the Free Lanes update and story DLC Terran Armada. (Gematsu)

• Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick dismissed the idea that AI can generate hit games at the push of a button as laughable. (GameSpot)

• Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said he is not interested in putting ads into premium games, calling it unfair to paying players. (PC Gamer)

• Delaware Court of Chancery ruled Krafton breached its transaction agreement and ordered the reinstatement of the ousted Unknown Worlds CEO. (Game Developer)

• Subnautica 2 is approved for early access release in May following the latest court ruling, with more story chapters, creatures, and biomes. (GameSpot)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney purchased 50,000 acres of forest in North Carolina and donated it, making it the largest private land donation in the state’s history. (PC Gamer)

• Epic and Google settled their legal dispute, with Fortnite returning to Google Play worldwide. (Game Developer)

• IO Interactive canceled a planned Hitman crossover mission for MindsEye after concluding its publishing deal with Build A Rocket Boy. (GameSpot)

• Balatro publisher Playstack reported a hit ratio of over 85%, with its portfolio including Abiotic Factor and VOID/BREAKER. (Game Developer)

• Finji CEO Rebekah Saltsman said indies are in a survival era, with funding partners treating $250,000 game budgets as insufficiently profitable. (PC Gamer)

• CD Projekt Red confirmed it has established the foundations of a new franchise codenamed Hadar after years of exploratory development. (Eurogamer)

• Pragmata hands-on preview after nearly three hours confirmed the full gameplay loop as part of Capcom’s 2026 slate. (RPG Site)

• Pragmata features giant robot kaiju boss battles where the player hacks, then shoots. (PC Gamer)

• Resident Evil series executive producer Jun Takeuchi marked the franchise’s 30th anniversary by thanking fans and promising more to come. (Eurogamer)

• Toby Fox confirmed Deltarune Chapter 5 development is mostly complete, outside bugs and translation, with professional testing starting April 1. (Nintendo Life)

• CyberConnect2 Vice President Taichiro Miyazaki described .hack//Z.E.R.O. as a brand new entry designed to be the studio’s defining game, discussed at GDC 2026. (RPG Site)

• Neowiz confirmed the Lies of P franchise has surpassed 4 million units sold globally. (RPG Site)

• Blizzard acknowledged that Diablo 4’s constant changes make it hard for players to keep up, and said obsolete systems will be reworked or fixed. (GameSpot)

• World of Warcraft: Midnight’s class balancing approach risks repeating a long-running mistake from Final Fantasy XIV. (PC Gamer)

• Half Sword developer addressed the gap between the early access game and its tech demo, saying the final version will differ from what has been shown previously, amid Mixed Steam reviews. (PC Gamer)

• Sandfall Interactive developers admitted no one on the team believed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would reach a 92 Metacritic score when they made bets on the outcome. (Polygon)

• Actor Charlie Cox said Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 opened new professional avenues and confirmed another video game project is in the works. (Eurogamer)

• Counter-Strike 2 changed gun reload mechanics to add more risk to the process. (Polygon)

• Helldivers 2’s first content roadmap for its 6.1 update includes new Illuminate enemies, a new mission type, and the Entrenched Division Warbond. (GameSpot)

• Death Stranding 2 is getting a major update for PC and PS5 including a new difficulty mode and live-action cutscenes timed to the PC release. (VGC)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder updated to Version 1.1.0 with amiibo support, Polish language, and readiness for the Switch 2 Edition and DLC launching March 26. (Nintendo Life)

• Peglin added a fourth act and a final boss nearly two years after hitting 1.0. (PC Gamer)

• Bungie built a literal maths test to help players understand Marathon’s complicated competitive mode. (PC Gamer)

• Marathon’s fourth map Cryo Archive was released as a limited weekend unlock following a puzzle ARG. (Eurogamer)

• Fortnite Unreal Editor received Star Wars assets including Luke Skywalker and Tatooine locations for UEFN creators. (Polygon)

• Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness arrived on Switch 2 via Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. (GameSpot)

• A Pokémon FireRed save file was lost on Switch 2. (Polygon)

• Game Boy Advance turns 25, with 81.5 million units sold and its library now available on Switch. (Eurogamer)

• Marvel Heroes has player-run servers more than 8 years after its November 2017 shutdown. (PC Gamer)

• A silksong player discovered a hidden version of act 1 boss The Last Judge and immediately identified why Team Cherry likely cut it: Hornet is too short for one of the new attacks to connect. (PC Gamer)

• Persona 5: The Phantom X version 3.4 adds a Persona 5 Royal crossover featuring Kasumi Yoshizawa and Jose in a new mini-game event. (RPG Site)

• Solo dev behind Tangy TD earned over $250,000 in a week following its early March Steam launch after four years of development. (PC Gamer)

• Street Fighter 6 added free collab DLC with Mega Man Star Force and Battle Network alongside returning character Alex. (Nintendo Life)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves DLC character Blue Mary launches March 26. (Gematsu)

• Niantic Spatial is using Pokémon Go movement data to train delivery robots, noting that getting Pikachu to run realistically is structurally the same problem. (IGN)

• Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks believes the video game industry needs to rethink its approach. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• ESRB confirmed US game age ratings will not change to factor in paid random items the way PEGI has in Europe, citing potential confusion. (Eurogamer)

• Generative AI in game development, navigating IP, regulation, and reputational risk, is discussed by Perkins Coie attorney Ali Mirsaidi at GDC. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• G2 Esports swept BNK FearX 3-0 to reach the First Stand 2026 semifinals, ending a 1,979-day title drought. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot’s Global Head of LoL Esports Chris Greeley discussed First Stand learnings, US Worlds visa issues, and giving CBLOL an additional Worlds slot. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot denied reports that the LEC Berlin studio could shut down in 2027 in favor of fully online production, confirming it will remain in Berlin while exploring limited remote play. (Sheep Esports)

• Esports World Cup Club Championship 2026 announced a $30 million prize pool with a cap on solo competitions and a new protest system. (Hotspawn)

• DRX announced a strategic naming partnership with Kiwoom Securities via MOU signed at DRX Seoul Tower. (Hotspawn)

• ZYB Esport remains in the LFL as a guest taking over the BK ROG Esports slot, with TLN Pirates securing a permanent spot. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot detailed new Legends, mechanics, and other features for Riftbound’s third set Unleashed, launching April 10 in China and May 8 in English. (IGN)

• Digimon Story: Time Stranger expansion DLC is planned for 2027. (RPG Site)

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising version 2.60 update was announced, including a new DLC character. (Gematsu)

• Vampire Survivors deck-building spin-off Vampire Crawlers has a release date next month. (Eurogamer)

• Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy, a three-versus-three team boss battle arena game, launches March 24 for iOS. (Gematsu)

• Lords of the Fallen 2023 surpassed 2.5 million units sold. (Gematsu)

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits is releasing on Switch 2 this month. (Eurogamer)

• Shenmue III Enhanced is coming to Switch 2 with a physical release. (Vooks)

• THQ Nordic announced Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Destroy All Humans!, and Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed for Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Splatoon 3 updated to Version 11.1.0 with balance and matchmaking adjustments. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Mega Shine expansion features shiny Pokémon including Mega Gengar ex and Mega Charizard ex. (Nintendo Life)

• New Cyberpunk TCG became the most-funded TCG game in Kickstarter history. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Amazon laid off more employees in a broader organizational restructuring affecting the Lost Ark team. (PC Gamer)

• Bandai Namco released a two-minute gameplay trailer for Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online. (Gematsu)

• River City Saga: Journey to the West official website opened, detailing story, systems, and characters. (Gematsu)

• PICROSS S KONAMI ANTIQUES edition was announced for Switch. (Gematsu)

• Dragon Quest X is getting a Gemini-powered AI slime companion called Chatty Slimey. (PC Gamer)

Thanks for reading, until next time :)

This edition will cover the week from 9 March to 15 March.

What caught my attention

Elon Musk built xAI fast and loud, and now he’s admitting it wasn’t built right. The restructuring, the co-founders’ exits, and now the poaching from Cursor - it all traces back to the same roots: “move fast and break things” (a Silicon Valley favourite) and… ego.

This is fine when the stakes are low. But when you have billions of dollars engaged in computing, a war with OpenAI and Google, and a defence sector watching closely - that’s a whole other ball game.

TLDR

• xAI full restructuring — Musk admitting the company wasn’t built right, co-founders gone, and Cursor execs brought in signals deeper structural rot than a typical pivot. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic vs. the Pentagon Electric Boogaloo Part 2 — The US War Department calling Claude an ethical liability while Palantir keeps using it anyway is the most revealing AI/defense tension of the year so far. (The Decoder)

• ChatGPT is losing ground fast — Market share dropped from 75.7% to 61.7% while Gemini went from 5.7% to 24.4%. The “default AI” position is no longer locked in. (The Decoder)

• China’s OpenClaw surge — Usage exceeding the US, government subsidies for one-person companies, Alibaba deploying it in minutes. The agentic race has a geography now. (CNBC Tech)

• Cursor at $50 billion — An AI coding tool in talks for a $50B valuation while xAI is raiding it for talent. Ironic. (Bloomberg Technology)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Princeton’s OpenClaw-RL framework converts live signals from chats, terminal commands, and GUI actions into continuous training data for AI agents, enabling improvements from a few dozen interactions. (The Decoder)

• Google DeepMind introduced Aletheia, an AI agent for autonomous professional research that iteratively generates, verifies, and revises solutions. (MarkTechPost)

• xAI’s Grok 4.20 set a new hallucination record low but trailed Gemini and GPT-5.4 in benchmarks by a wide margin. (The Decoder)

• Meta postponed its AI model Avocado after internal tests showed it lagging behind Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. (The Decoder)

• Former Anthropic researchers launched Mirendil, an AI startup targeting scientific research in biology and materials science, seeking a $1 billion valuation. (The Decoder)

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) and AI Agent Skills compared across setup, task execution, and behavioral guidance for LLMs interacting with tools. (MarkTechPost)

• Analysis of the current AI phase and likely next developments in human-AI work by Ethan Mollick. Note: highly recommend his book “Co-Intelligence”. (One Useful Thing)

Products & Tools

• Anthropic launched a beta feature for Claude to generate interactive charts, diagrams, and visualizations inline in conversations. (The Decoder)

• Perplexity launched Personal Computer, a $200/month AI agent handling emails, presentations, and app control around the clock. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft launched Copilot Health, an AI assistant integrating wearables, medical records, and lab results for personalized health advice. (The Decoder)

• Google launched Ask Maps in Google Maps, using Gemini for plain-language place searches and revamped 3D navigation. (The Decoder)

• X enabled Grok users to generate video incorporating up to seven input images. (Social Media Today)

• LangChain released Deep Agents, a structured runtime for planning, memory, and context isolation in multi-step AI agents. (MarkTechPost)

• Garry Tan released gstack, an open-source Claude Code system with eight workflow skills for planning, code review, QA, and shipping, backed by persistent browser runtime. (MarkTechPost)

• OpenAI plans to integrate Sora video AI into ChatGPT. (The Decoder)

• Bumble announced AI dating assistant Bee for compatibility-based matching beyond swiping. (TechCrunch AI)

• Genspark launched Claw AI assistant using dedicated cloud computers as a secure OpenClaw alternative. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• Google released a breakdown of differences between its three Nano Banana image generation models, with Nano Banana 2 offering 95% of Pro capabilities plus web search. (The Decoder)

• Google and Samsung rolled out Gemini task automation on S26 and Pixel 10 for apps including food delivery and rideshare. (The Verge AI)

• Alibaba launched a mobile app to install and deploy OpenClaw within minutes. (Bloomberg Technology)

• LinkedIn published a guide on optimizing post content for AI chatbots to improve visibility in AI-generated answers. (Social Media Today)

• Bespoke AI models are emerging for filmmaking, moving beyond general image and video generators. (The Verge AI)

• Google uses old news reports and LLMs to convert qualitative data into quantitative inputs for flash flood prediction. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Nvidia and Nebius partnered to develop a hyperscale AI cloud, with Nvidia investing $2 billion for 5GW deployment by 2030. (Capacity Global)

• AWS partnered with Cerebras for AI inference disaggregation to be deployed on Amazon Bedrock. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Meta unveiled four generations of custom AI chips focused on inference to reduce GPU dependence. (The Decoder)

• xAI received approval for 41 natural gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus data centers. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Hyperscale Power raised €5M seed to build a prototype miniaturized solid-state transformer for data center power. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Nvidia plans $26 billion investment in open-weight AI models over five years, per SEC filing. (The Decoder)

Regulation & Policy

• US War Department CTO claimed Anthropic’s Claude “pollutes” the defense supply chain with built-in ethics. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft, OpenAI and Google employees, ex-military, and rights groups filed amicus briefs backing Anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon. (The Decoder)

• A lawyer linked AI chatbots to mass casualty cases and warned of risks as the technology advances faster than safeguards. (TechCrunch AI)

• Palantir demos show Anthropic’s Claude helping the Pentagon analyze intelligence and suggest next steps for war plans. (Wired AI)

• Sam Altman faced questions from lawmakers on OpenAI’s Defense Department work. (CNBC Tech)

• Google is not ruling out ads in Gemini. (Wired AI)

• Google’s generative AI search tools increasingly cite its own services like Google Search and YouTube over third-party publishers. (Wired AI)

Business & Funding

• xAI is revamping its AI coding tool with two new executives hired from Cursor. (TechCrunch AI)

• Andreessen Horowitz’s Top 100 AI ranking shows ChatGPT leading a maturing market with growing competitors and geopolitical usage splits. (The Decoder)

• Similarweb data shows ChatGPT market share fell from 75.7% to 61.7% as Google Gemini rose from 5.7% to 24.4%. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic removed the surcharge for million-token context windows in Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6, reducing costs for requests over 200,000 tokens. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic launched the Anthropic Institute to study AI risks, led by co-founder Jack Clark. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• AI coding startup Cursor is in talks for a $50 billion valuation funding round. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Nick Clegg launched AI startup Efekta, deliberately avoiding an AGI focus after his time at Meta. (Wired AI)

• Elon Musk’s ketamine use ruled off-limits in OpenAI fraud trial. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Microsoft is pushing AI adoption in Africa, competing with DeepSeek. (Bloomberg Technology)

Society & Culture

• ByteDance shelved the global launch of Seedance 2.0 after copyright complaints from Hollywood studios. (The Decoder)

• An Australian AI consultant used ChatGPT, AlphaFold, and Grok to identify a possible treatment for his dog’s incurable cancer. (The Decoder)

• ServiceNow CEO stated AI agents could push college graduate unemployment over 30%. (CNBC Tech)

• Seven Chinese local governments launched million-dollar funding programs for OpenClaw projects to enable “one-person companies” with AI agents. (The Decoder)

• China’s OpenClaw usage exceeded the US, driving demand for lower-cost Chinese AI models. (CNBC Tech)

• Google expanded Gemini in Chrome to India, Canada, and New Zealand with support for Hindi, Bengali, and other languages. (TechCrunch AI)

Until next week!

Rachid

This edition will cover the week from 9 March to 15 March.

What caught my attention

Xbox has been a punching bag for years. Fair enough.

Then GDC happens, and Microsoft walks in with Project Helix - AI upscaling, an order-of-magnitude ray tracing leap, a PC/console hybrid with an actual identity. Dev kits in 2027. Nothing to play tomorrow. But… new leadership, a new hardware narrative, and a room full of developers who needed a reason to care about Xbox again.

Whether it holds is another question. Right now? It lands.

TLDR

1. Jeff Kaplan / Lex Fridman interview — Kaplan on WoW, Overwatch, and his Blizzard exit in April 2021. Rare candid account from someone who built two of the biggest games ever made. (GameSpot)

2. Project Helix (Xbox/GDC) — New leadership, new hardware story, specs that give developers a reason to pay attention again. (GamesRadar)

3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins GDC GOTY + 12 BAFTA nominations — A French indie on track to match Baldur’s Gate 3’s awards run. (GamesIndustry.biz)

4. Pokémon Pokopia — 2.2M units in 4 days, Nintendo stock +10.5% — Numbers that matter. (GamesIndustry.biz)

5. Slay the Spire 2 — 3M units in one week — Steam’s biggest roguelike, one week in. (GamesRadar)

Biggest releases of the week

Full roundup

• Blizzard vet Rob Pardo closed GDC keynote, urging executives to cool layoffs, stating the game team is more valuable than the game itself. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard veteran Rob Pardo stated love is the most important development milestone. (Game Developer)

• Ex-Blizzard exec urged the industry to stop taking developers for granted amid layoffs at EA and Ubisoft. (GamesRadar)

• Sega recorded a $200 million impairment write-down for Rovio after its $776 million acquisition, citing over-reliance on local management and issues with Beacon tech. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Embark Studios head Patrick Söderlund explained Arc Raiders was built on a quarter of a typical AAA budget. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Embark Studios re-recorded AI-generated voice lines for Arc Raiders after acknowledging human actors deliver better results. (Eurogamer)

• Palworld publishing lead stated the West continues to stumble and they are more determined than ever to support underfunded developers. (GamesRadar)

• Pocketpair lead said apologies to professional Palworld haters, but the studio will keep doing what players want. (GamesRadar)

• Valve shared data showing more games are finding success than ever, with nearly 6,000 titles making over $100,000 last year. (GamesRadar)

• Newzoo projects PC revenue to overtake console by 2028 with a 6.6% CAGR versus 4.4% for console. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Rebranded GDC Festival of Gaming attracted 20,000 attendees from March 9 to 13. (Game Developer)

• Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry director argued asset reuse in games is essential and studios redo too much from scratch. (PC Gamer)

• Former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent launched venture capital firm Leeroy Jenkins Kapital focused on European video game companies. (Sheep Esports)

• Journey composer Austin Wintory played an unreleased track from his canceled dream job at the Game Developers Choice Awards. (PC Gamer)

• Shinji Mikami has a new studio with staff benefits including a chocolate fountain on Valentine’s Day. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox brought main character energy to GDC with Project Helix, Microsoft’s next-gen PC/console hybrid. (Polygon)

• Early Project Helix specs include next-generation AI upscaling and an order-of-magnitude leap in ray tracing performance. (GamesRadar)

• Project Helix dev kits are not going out until 2027, with new details emerging on Xbox’s next-gen console. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft posted photos teasing work-in-progress Xbox hardware at GDC following Project Helix confirmation. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign is quietly being swept under the rug amid leadership changes. (GamesRadar)

• Xbox confirmed Project Moorcroft, a game demos and Game Pass initiative teased in 2022, is dead. (GameSpot)

• Xbox AI lead argued AI is not a new feature, pointing to cheat detection and pathfinding systems dating back to Drivatar in Forza Motorsport 2005. (GamesRadar)

• Xbox lead stated the industry has been in a golden age for indie games since 2008. (GamesRadar)

• Microsoft stated Xbox Play Anywhere titles can double player spending and engagement. (Game Developer)

• Bethesda will share more on Starfield next week, as Todd Howard describes his only visionary power as seeing running lanes in EA College Football 26. (GamesRadar)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year and five total accolades at the 26th Game Developers Choice Awards, and secured 12 BAFTA nominations. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer described receiving praise from Final Fantasy legends as surreal given the series’ influence on the game. (GamesRadar)

• Creator of Chained Echoes is preparing a lawsuit against its physical publisher and plans to compensate Kickstarter backers. (GamesRadar)

• Slay the Spire 2 sold 3 million units in one week with over 25 million runs, becoming Steam’s biggest roguelike. (GamesRadar)

• Crimson Desert launched on PC with pre-loading starting March 17 and a launch trailer. (RPG Site)

• Crimson Desert developer says the PC preview builds already had Denuvo DRM and are representative of the final consumer experience. (GamesRadar)

• Crimson Desert locked down early-shipped physical copies to block spoilers before the official release. (GamesRadar)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is now available worldwide on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox, and Steam. (RPG Site)

• Diablo IV Season of Slaughter launched with Kill Streaks, a Doom: The Dark Ages collaboration, and Butcher transformation. (RPG Site)

• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred crafting system revives season 11 sanctification, allowing low-level loot to be upgraded to legendary. (PC Gamer)

• Control Resonant launched with DLSS 4.5, path-traced rendering, ray reconstruction, and RTX mega geometry support. (RPG Site)

• Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PC Steam. (RPG Site)

• Shadowstone from Secret Door and Dreamhaven kicked off a surprise public playtest at the Future Games Show Spring Showcase ahead of early access. (PC Gamer)

• VALORANT Act 2 adds Knockout mode, a round-based team elimination format, and new agent Miks on March 18. (Hotspawn)

• Wuthering Waves Version 3.2 launches March 18 with streamlined Resonator rewards and motorbike improvements. (RPG Site)

• Zenless Zone Zero Version 2.7 launches March 24 with Hollow Champion competition, Nangong Yu, Cissia, and physical collector’s editions for PS5 and Xbox Series X. (RPG Site)

• Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.1 launches March 25 with limited 5-star characters Ashveil, Hyacine, and Boothill. (RPG Site)

• Ghost of Yotei developers say they know players hate super boss Takezo and consider it a success. (GamesRadar)

• Ghost of Yotei cut content included Zelda-like climbing mechanics and multiple worlds. (GameSpot)

• Capcom’s Pragmata demo hit two million downloads across platforms. (Nintendo Life)

• Marvel Rivals impacted Blizzard, with the Overwatch team citing new hero drop cadence as a key factor. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch director celebrated no longer being Steam’s lowest-rated game but admitted uncertainty on reaching a positive score. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch co-creator allegedly left Blizzard after an executive said he would be responsible for 1,000 layoffs if the game missed financial targets. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch’s Nier Automata collab launched without voice lines at a higher price than the RPG itself. (GamesRadar)

• Jeff Kaplan has checked player accounts complaining about Overwatch matchmaking and noted there have to be winners and losers. (PC Gamer)

• Overwatch vet Jeff Kaplan stated the human spirit is irreplaceable in the context of AI in game development. (GameSpot)

• Fortnite players revolted over V-Bucks price increases; Epic raised prices to cover increased running costs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• CD Projekt Red confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 will not receive any more secret content. (Eurogamer)

• Blizzard’s cancelled WoW follow-up Project Titan was a one-server, one-world MMO with GTA and Animal Crossing influences, but was too large to ship. (GamesRadar)

• WoW’s Horde/Alliance split was controversial internally and only locked in 9-12 months before launch, per Jeff Kaplan. (PC Gamer)

• Jeff Kaplan admitted that typical hubris led to one of WoW’s worst quests. (GamesRadar)

• WoW’s questing system was inspired by a failed playtest where non-MMO players ran out of quests immediately. (PC Gamer)

• Donkey Kong Bananza producer said ideas from the game may inform Nintendo’s next big project, but only if they feel fresh. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon Pokopia sold over 2.2 million units in its first four days, boosting Nintendo’s share price by 10.5%. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Pokémon Pokopia first patch addressed progress-halting bugs and eased progression. (Eurogamer)

• After 48 hours with Pokémon Pokopia, one writer concluded humans were the problem with Pokémon all along. (GamesRadar)

• Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler series hit another major sales milestone following the release of Octopath Traveler 0. (Nintendo Life)

• Octopath Traveler team’s new Zelda-like action RPG features cat collecting, with different cats having different tastes. (GamesRadar)

• Square Enix announced three North American tour dates for the Chrono Trigger Orchestral Concert with presale access. (RPG Site)

• Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring Switch 2 port is shaping up to be an excellent adaptation. (RPG Site)

• Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake updated to Version 1.0.2.0 with various improvements. (Nintendo Life)

• Nier Automata’s Yoko Taro says his generation of game directors has a lot of weirdos because games were not mainstream when they started. (GamesRadar)

• Nier Automata-inspired indie Homura Hime includes a system that Yoko Taro dropped from his own game. (GamesRadar)

• Starfield composer Inon Zur stated people were not ready for the game and called Todd Howard a visionary. (Eurogamer)

• Street Fighter game director teased a very smart movie adaptation in a new behind-the-scenes featurette. (GamesRadar)

• Former Eve Online developers are building Seed, a society simulation MMO where characters keep playing after you log off. (PC Gamer)

• Mina the Hollower preview notes Yacht Club’s Zelda homage carries Game Boy nostalgia and surprising depth. (Polygon)

• Dave the Diver DLC In the Jungle adds Stardew Valley-style time management and relationship building, releasing in June. (PC Gamer)

• Path of Exile’s new Mirage League may be the best chance players ever get at the rarest item in the game. (PC Gamer)

• Dispatch lies about RNG for player benefit, auto-succeeding rolls above 76%, similar to XCOM. (GamesRadar)

• Dispatch’s concept artist was picked up on ArtStation as a temporary fix but ended up defining the entire game’s art style. (PC Gamer)

• Dark Messiah modders given free rein by Ubisoft are releasing a Community Edition of Arkane’s classic. (PC Gamer)

• Hasbro CEO uses AI heavily in personal D&D games but keeps it out of MTG cards and official D&D books because players do not want it. (PC Gamer)

• NewZoo study found Roblox and Minecraft players are less likely to engage with AAA titles due to not prioritizing realistic graphics. (GameSpot)

• University of Bristol and Meaning Machine research shows over 90% of gamers find AI-powered NPCs enjoyable and rewarding. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Google’s Genie 3 world models start to break down after about a minute due to memory limits, per a GDC talk. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Anime legends Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno reunited, though Miyazaki does not appear to be working on a new film. (GamesRadar)

• Minecraft Live returns March 21 with behind-the-scenes content and updates. (PC Gamer)

• 25 years since 3DMark2001’s Nature test first dropped jaws, marking how far 3D graphics have come. (PC Gamer)

• Natsume announced Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. (Gematsu)

• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available for preorder ahead of its PS5 and PC release on August 6. (IGN)

• Marvel Maximum Collection brings six superhero titles to Switch digitally on March 27 with physical pre-orders. (Nintendo Life)

• Next Pokémon TCG set Chaos Rising features Mega Floette ex in Lumiose City, due in May. (GamesRadar)

• Pokemon Company partnered with Eisai to distribute a Snorlax picture book to Japan hospitals for sleep awareness. (Siliconera)

• Valve clarified Steam Machine and Steam Frame Verified requirements, including mandatory Steam Deck performance benchmarks. (PC Gamer)

• Intel announced Arrow Lake Plus desktop chips with more cores, higher clocks, lower cost, and an IPC-boosting BOT tool. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo’s lawsuit against the U.S. government over 2025 tariffs is automatically paused pending the outcome of another tariff case. (Nintendo Life)

• UK class-action lawsuit against Sony for $2.67 billion over excessive digital download charges on the PlayStation Store is now being heard. (Polygon)

• PEGI revised its age ratings system, bumping loot boxes to PEGI 16 and factoring in daily quests. (Game Developer)

• Valve pushed back against a New York lawsuit over loot boxes, comparing them to Pokemon cards, Magic: The Gathering, and Labubu. (GamesRadar)

• Nongshim RedForce defeated Paper Rex 3-0 to win their first VALORANT Masters in Santiago. (Sheep Esports)

• NAVI defeated Aurora 3-1 to win ESL Pro League Season 23, their first Tier 1 trophy since IEM Rio 2024. (Hotspawn)

• Bertrand Amar announced LoL Game Changers competitions for 2026 and 2027. (Sheep Esports)

• New French organizer N.E.O., led by Bertrand Amar and Matthieu Dallon, acquired EMEA Masters and LoL Game Changers. (Sheep Esports)

• G2 and Liquid traded malbsMd and NertZ. (Hotspawn)

• paiN Gaming CEO Thomas Hamence stepped down on March 12 following backlash over the handling of sexual abuse allegations involving player TitaN. (Hotspawn)

• Fighting game pro Ludovic Mbock was released on bond after being detained by ICE. (GameSpot)

• ExpressVPN renewed its LEC partnership and signed with VCT EMEA, VCT Americas, G2 Esports, and Method. (Hotspawn)

• A former Highguard developer stated that online discourse had dark corners that may have accelerated the studio’s failure timeline, though it was not the primary cause. (PC Gamer)

• Highguard's technical artist returned to social media to apologise for a previous outburst that was misdirected following the studio’s shutdown. (Eurogamer)

This edition will cover the week from 2 March to 8 March.

What caught my attention

The Pentagon labelled Anthropic a supply chain risk while running Claude on classified systems. Anthropic is suing. A million new users a day are switching to Claude. ChatGPT downloads are dropping.

OpenAI is pulling a Yahoo - chasing government contracts and enterprise deals while quietly losing the thing that actually matters: being the AI people want to open. Defaults shift. Faster than anyone admits. Claude is starting to feel like that shift.

TLDR

1. Pentagon vs Anthropic - A company providing AI to classified government systems gets labeled a supply chain risk by the same government. Anthropic is suing. The precedent this sets for every AI startup near defense work is significant.

2. OpenAI/Oracle halt Stargate Texas expansion - Power supply delays stall the flagship data center while Nvidia pivots chip supply away from China. The infrastructure bottleneck is real and getting worse.

3. AI memory-chip shortage - AI demand is triggering a historic shortage expected to raise prices across phones, cars, and electronics. Not an AI story. A consumer economics story.

4. Caitlin Kalinowski resigns from OpenAI - Head of robotics walks over the Pentagon deal, citing mass surveillance and lethal autonomy concerns. Senior talent voting with their feet is a signal worth tracking.

5. AI agent benchmarks ignore 92% of the labor market - Study finds benchmarks obsess over coding tasks while the vast majority of jobs go unmeasured. The gap between what we’re optimizing for and what actually matters keeps widening.

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• OpenAI releases the GPT-5.4 Thinking System Card. (OpenAI Blog)

• Luma AI releases Uni-1 image model that tops Nano Banana 2 and GPT Image 1.5 on logic-based benchmarks, combining image understanding and generation. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft releases Phi-4-Reasoning-Vision-15B, a 15B parameter open-weight multimodal model for math, science, and GUI tasks. (MarkTechPost)

• Study finds AI agent benchmarks focus almost entirely on coding tasks, ignoring 92% of the US labor market. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic compares Claude’s actual capabilities against real-world usage patterns. (The Neuron)

• Google releases open-source SpeciesNet AI model to identify animals for wildlife conservation. (Google AI Blog)

Products & Tools

• Cursor rolls out Automations, an agentic coding tool triggered by codebase changes, Slack messages, or timers. (TechCrunch AI)

• Descript uses OpenAI models for multilingual video dubbing, optimizing translations for meaning and timing. (OpenAI Blog)

• Grammarly adds an ‘expert review’ feature using writing styles from great writers, thinkers, and tech journalists. (TechCrunch AI)

• Grammarly’s expert review feature uses the identities of experts - including deceased professors and tech journalists - without permission. (The Verge AI)

• AI tools can unmask anonymous online accounts across platforms. (The Verge AI)

• Apple Music rolls out Transparency Tags for labels and distributors to flag AI-generated content in artwork, tracks, compositions, and videos. (The Verge AI)

• Samsung reveals first details of AI smart glasses launching in 2026. (CNBC Tech)

• Google Techspert explains the AI Mode query fan-out method for visual search. (Google AI Blog)

• MariaDB agrees to acquire GridGain to meet sub-millisecond data demands of agentic AI. (Fierce Network)

• Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive for film and TV production tools. (The Verge AI)

• Sinch co-founder discusses RCS, WhatsApp, and AI-powered voice bots for enterprise communication. (Capacity Global)

Infrastructure & Compute

• AI demand triggers historic memory-chip shortage expected to raise prices for phones, cars, and electronics. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI and Oracle halt expansion of the Stargate data center in Texas over power supply delays, shifting to Nvidia Vera Rubin chips elsewhere. (The Decoder)

• Nvidia reallocates China H200 manufacturing capacity to Vera Rubin chips due to low GPU sales to Chinese customers. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Pinewood Studios gets approval for a £1bn data center next to the James Bond filming site. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Aikido launches an underwater data center project aboard an offshore wind turbine to expand AI compute capacity. (AI Business)

• HighBrook closes its first data center fund targeting 300MW developments at three Fairfax County, Virginia sites. (Data Center Dynamics)

• LG launches a containerized data center offering and plans a 60MW deployment with 50 containers in Busan, South Korea. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Google seeks land annexation for a six-building data center campus in Linn County, Iowa. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Emerald AI releases results of a UK demonstration project with National Grid over five days at a Nebius data center. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Data center skills are becoming critical for supporting AI growth. (Data Center Dynamics)

• HD Hyundai Electric accelerates US expansion, betting on AI supercycle driving demand for transformers and switchgear. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Foxconn revenue up 22% year-on-year in 2026, driven by server demand. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Owner of an ICE detention facility sees opportunity in AI man camps modeled after remote oil field housing for data center developers. (TechCrunch AI)

• AI data center boom creates hidden housing demand with mobile housing for remote workers. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Broadcom earnings and AI PR issues discussed on CNBC Morning Squawk. (CNBC Tech)

Regulation & Policy

• Pentagon designates Anthropic as a supply chain risk despite the company providing AI for classified systems; Anthropic plans to sue. (NYT Technology)

• Pentagon appoints ex-Uber executive Emil Michael as under secretary amid the Anthropic AI feud. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Defense experts defend Anthropic in a letter to Congress, calling the Pentagon’s supply chain risk label a dangerous precedent. (CNBC Tech)

• Microsoft, Google, and Amazon confirm Anthropic Claude remains available to non-defense customers. (TechCrunch AI)

• TechCrunch Equity podcast discusses whether the Pentagon’s Anthropic controversy will scare startups away from defense work. (TechCrunch AI)

• Tech groups urge Trump to drop the Anthropic supply chain risk designation. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Elon Musk’s xAI loses bid to block California law requiring AI firms to disclose training data sources. (Ars Technica AI)

• US mulls requiring permits for global Nvidia and AMD AI chip sales. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Euro regulators question Meta over AI glasses privacy fears involving a US data vendor. (AI Business)

• Europe faces a crossroads where cloud sovereignty and innovation must coexist for a resilient digital future. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Telecom CEOs warn Europe’s digital sovereignty is dead without a regulatory overhaul. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Opinion on the risks of using AI in war, noting uncertainty around Anthropic Claude’s role in US bombing of Iran. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Israel and US bomb data centers in Tehran following Iran’s drone strikes on AWS. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Wired’s Uncanny Valley podcast covers the Iran war in the AI era, prediction market ethics, and Paramount vs Netflix. (Wired AI)

Business & Funding

• SoftBank seeks a record $40 billion loan to fund its OpenAI stake. (The Decoder)

• Cerebras Systems taps Morgan Stanley to lead its IPO return. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Founders Fund leads an $80M Series B extension for AI manufacturing startup Nominal, valuing it at $1B. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Lio raises $30M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz to automate enterprise procurement. (TechCrunch AI)

• Palantir stock rallies 15% for the week on Iran war dynamics, with Anthropic concerns barely registering. (CNBC Tech)

• Palantir wins a court order blocking three ex-employees from poaching staff and using trade secrets for an AI startup. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Jack Dorsey explains Block’s 40% workforce layoffs to rebuild the company as an intelligence firm. (Wired AI)

• Oracle plans thousands of job cuts amid an AI data center expansion cash crunch. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Amazon lays off at least 100 roles in its robotics division focused on warehouse automation. (Capacity Global)

• Global AI glasses shipments reach 8.7M units; China is the fastest-growing market and Meta holds 85.2% share. (Light Reading)

• CH Robinson CEO states AI is boosting the company’s bottom line amid supply chain disruptions. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Op-ed on lessons from $5B humanoid robot firm Apptronik and its Google DeepMind partnership. (CNBC Tech)

• Meta states its AI-optimized data centers support the US economy with construction jobs and a Ratepayer Protection Pledge. (Social Media Today)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic reports Claude is adding over a million new users every day. (The Decoder)

• Claude app sees more new installs than ChatGPT and grows daily active users despite the Pentagon deal controversy. (TechCrunch AI)

• ChatGPT downloads drop amid the Pentagon feud; Claude gains users. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI’s head of robotics Caitlin Kalinowski quits over the Pentagon deal, citing concerns about mass surveillance and lethal autonomy. (The Decoder)

• Study in Harvard Business Review finds overusing AI causes “AI brain fry” in workers. (CBS News Tech)

• China plans to use AI to create jobs amid 12.7 million university graduates entering the labor market. (Bloomberg Technology)

• AI-generated videos manipulate animals to perform actions, potentially numbing viewers to real animal behavior. (NYT Technology)

• Meta AI glasses reportedly send sensitive footage to human reviewers in Kenya. (The Verge AI)

• Class action lawsuit filed over Meta AI glasses privacy claims; Meta states its AI filters data to keep it private. (AI Business)

• OpenClaw superfan meetup ClawCon features lobster-themed events, pink lighting, and open-source AI discussions in NYC. (The Verge AI)

• Tim Cook discusses Apple’s first 50 years, the focus on innovation, and Steve Jobs’ vision in an extended CBS interview. (CBS News Tech)

• Ring founder discusses AI’s role in modern home security including lost pet finding tech. (Bloomberg Technology)