Patch Notes #60 - weekly gaming digest
Welcome. Let’s get this bad boy going.
This edition will cover the week from 16 February to 22 February.
What caught my attention
Xbox changed its CEO. The discourse didn’t change at all.
Most of the conversation has been about age, background, and gaming credentials - which tells you more about the internet than about her actual ability to lead.
A fresh perspective at the top of a struggling platform (or however Xbox defines itself nowadays) isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But Microsoft PR didn’t help - positioning her as a “true gamer learning the ropes” fed exactly the scepticism they were trying to neutralise. Just let the results speak.
The “no AI slop” commitment is worth holding them to - but worth defining too. Right now, “AI slop” means whatever the person saying it dislikes. There’s a real difference between AI shipped as a finished product and AI used internally to prototype, sketch, or research faster. Conflating the two is how developers end up afraid to use tools that could actually help them ship better games.
Watching from the sidelines. Back to my games.
TLDR
ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology, developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group for $6bn to $7bn. (Esports Insider)
Players spent roughly 10,250,000,000 monthly hours in Roblox in 2025, more than Steam, PlayStation, and Fortnite combined, accounting for 67% of the games industry’s growth outside of China. (PC Gamer)
Qiddiya Investment Company completed its acquisition of the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) and insists that Evo’s traditions, values, and identity will remain unchanged. (Eurogamer)
Xbox president Sarah Bond explained her sudden departure from the company after committing to guide it through change post-Activision Blizzard buyout and gave an update on next-gen Xbox. (GameSpot)
Valve blamed dwindling Steam Deck supplies on RAM and storage shortages due to AI-driven demand impacting the games industry. (Eurogamer)
Rest of the news
Roblox responded to a LA County civil lawsuit alleging its online social space is largely unsupervised and fails to protect children from predators, stating ‘While no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends’. (PC Gamer)
Blizzard is nerfing Overwatch’s Jetpack Cat hero next week and in a mid-season patch as the hero suffers from constant bans and can be very lethal. (GamesRadar)
Neva Prologue is a prequel DLC from Nomada Studio and Devolver Digital about a girl and her wolf. (Polygon)
Developers of handheld Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for GBA, $1 million in debt, saved their company by pitching fake screenshots that turned the GBA into a 3D gaming machine. (GamesRadar)
Nintendo is issuing refunds for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition’s poorly-received premium Switch 2 Edition upgrade. (Eurogamer)
GameSpot published a Resident Evil story recap video before Requiem covering plot details from mainline and spinoff titles. (GameSpot)
Dplus Kia completed a reverse sweep to eliminate T1 from LCK Cup, T1’s first reverse sweep in 10 years. (Sheep Esports)
New Blood CEO Dave Oshry stated he always loved GOG but they need enough people to care or questions how long they will be around. (PC Gamer)
World of Warcraft: Midnight’s Prey system is a don’t AFK mode on its nastiest difficulty, surprising Blizzard devs as players liked being ambushed. (GamesRadar)
Saints Row original design director Chris Stockman stated the franchise is dead, sensing Embracer has zero ability to do anything with it. (GameSpot)
Pokémon shared a side-by-side video of FireRed and LeafGreen opening theme ahead of their standalone eShop releases on Switch next week. (Nintendo Life)
Balatro creator LocalThunk reflected on dropping out of an engineering program to make games for its 2 years anniversary. (PC Gamer)
February 21 marks the original release of The Legend of Zelda in Japan, with the series’ influence impressive at age 40. (Polygon)
Demon Slayer studio ufotable showed off its Genshin Impact anime after 3 years of silence, alongside a tease for JRPG Tales of. (GamesRadar)
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated the company has multiple Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed games coming and understands concerns from protest groups amid cuts. (VGC)
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition received a massive update adding a new line of warships and significant changes to naval mechanics. (PC Gamer)
A new Tales Of 30th anniversary announcement is coming on April 3. (RPG Site)
China’s esports industry is entering a new era beyond the LPL that could define the next 10 years. (Sheep Esports)
Baldur’s Gate 3 marketing lead stated pretty much every game is effectively multiplayer now, giving Sony advice after its live-service fails. (GamesRadar)
NieR:Automata sales hit over 10 million units as celebrated in a 9th anniversary video, with a tease for the series’ future. (Nintendo Life)
God of War Sons of Sparta is a 2D Metroidvania from Mega Cat Studios placing Kratos and brother Deimos in the wilds searching for a missing Spartan. (Polygon)
God of War Sons of Sparta early Metacritic score places it as the worst in the series, lower than divisive Ascension by over 10 points. (GamesRadar)
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated Rayman’s 30th Anniversary Edition is the first step in the franchise’s comeback. (GameSpot)
Embark Studios paused The Finals esports efforts following community concerns about player conduct. (Esports Insider)
VALORANT player Jung ‘Xiesta’ Si-hwan, born in 2010, signed a four-year contract with Gen.G Esports, the longest in the organization’s history. (Esports Insider)
Riot Games announced in-game rewards for 2XKO players participating in community events. (Esports Insider)
Midsummer Studios, co-founded by former XCOM designer Jake Solomon, is closing its doors. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Honkai: Star Rail 4.0 update brings new additions like Sparxie and Cosmicon Collective. (Siliconera)
Diarmuid Early, the ‘LeBron James of spreadsheets’, won the 2025 Excel World Championship grand prize in Las Vegas. (PC Gamer)
Starbreeze Entertainment’s 2025 revenue rose 19% to SEK 221 million ($24.5 million). (GamesIndustry.biz)
NetEase is cutting jobs at its internal remote-first studio Spliced Inc. (Game Developer)
Scopely acquired an undisclosed majority stake in Loom Games, developer of mobile title Pixel Flow. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Meta Quest 3 is getting an official VR treadmill accessory, Virtuix Omni One, which costs ~$2,000 more than the headset. (GamesRadar)
Highguard developer released a new content update and stated the game’s website going offline is a low priority as reputational damage is already done. (Eurogamer)
World of Warcraft classes were pruned for Midnight because many were built assuming players would use addons. (PC Gamer)
Saudi Esports Federation signed MoUs with ROC Esports and Team Stallions to establish a comprehensive esports ecosystem. (Esports Insider)
Riot Games revealed the Season 1 roadmap for 2XKO EU Community Series, with top competitors earning a fully paid trip to EVO 2026. (Esports Insider)
Bungie delayed Destiny 2: Shadow and Order major update by three months to June 2026. (IGN)
Bethesda boss Todd Howard stated Starfield 2.0 will not fundamentally change the game. (GameSpot)
Fnatic issued a statement reiterating its zero-tolerance stance on abuse directed at players, following an increase in targeted abuse including death threats. (Esports Insider)
Pokémon Emerald speedrunning changed after discovery of a specific Lonely Mudkip overlooked for 21 years. (GamesRadar)
Competitive Street Fighter 6 player Ludovic Mbock was detained by US ICE, with a GoFundMe raising over $34,000 for legal defense. (Siliconera)
Warframe is now available on Google Play for Android worldwide. (RPG Site)
Todd Howard stated the AI boom is not a fad but Bethesda is incredibly cautious and not using it to generate anything. (GamesRadar)
Riot Games unveiled VALORANT Masters Santiago Skirmish Series for event attendees. (Esports Insider)
After 22 years and 984 hours, the Trails series is close to its conclusion, prompting the studio to remake the originals. (GamesRadar)
Blizzard provided free lootboxes in Overwatch amid server issues during the hero shooter’s big return event. (GamesRadar)
DayZ creator Dean Hall stated players have the power to normalize delaying games. (VGC)
Outgoing Sucker Punch boss hopes the studio can make games in shorter periods of time, not about offshoring or AI. (Game Developer)
Leagues.gg responded to criticisms over delayed payments and 2026 structural updates for NLC. (Esports Insider)
Ubisoft announced Rainbow Six Mobile will launch early in India on February 19th, the first country to get access. (Esports Insider)
Epic Games revealed Fortnite’s Solo Leveling skins including protagonist Sung Jin-woo. (Polygon)
Nintendo’s forgotten Mario Kart Arcade GP is playable again 21 years later via the best GameCube emulator improvement. (GamesRadar)
Activision announced Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile will shut down in April. (VGC)
Esports World Cup Foundation announced 2026 Rocket League Esports World Cup details from August 12th to 16th with 16 teams competing for $1m prize pool. (Esports Insider)
Discord competitor experienced an incredible surge of new users after Discord’s controversial age verification announcement. (GamesRadar)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild received update to version 1.9 on Switch and Switch 2. (GameSpot)
Ninjas in Pyjamas expanded into Tekken 8 esports by signing South Korean player Oh ‘Meo-IL’ Dai-il. (Esports Insider)
Aion Classic EU Update 4.5 “Ignite” arrives in early 2026 with a new class and open-world progression zone. (RPG Site)
Hollow Knight Silksong update brought a game-changing tweak to Silk Soar. (GamesRadar)
The Rogue Prince of Persia outlined 2026 roadmap including new elements, difficulties, weapon affixes, tools, parkour, and arenas. (IGN)
Razer launched a new collection co-designed by Counter-Strike 2 player Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač. (Esports Insider)
Grabbz revealed broken promises, staff shortages, and structural limits at Fnatic after loss to Na’Vi in LEC playoffs. (Sheep Esports)
$8,000 bounty offered for Super Mario 64 speedrunner to bring the “dead” game back to life. (GamesRadar)
Oblivion Remastered player spent 300 days following an Imperial Palace Guard to loot his armor. (GamesRadar)
Fans are reviving cancelled Ubisoft battle royale Hyper Scape. (Polygon)
HEROIC appointed long-time leader Joachim Harg as new CEO. (Esports Insider)
Valheim creative director Robin Eyre remains dedicated to Valheim every day alongside new co-op dungeon crawler. (PC Gamer)
Unity boss Matthew Bromberg stated new Unity AI tech will enable developers to prompt full casual games into existence with natural language only, to be showcased at GDC in March. (PC Gamer)
Stardew Valley player slept for 1,000 years over three weeks to find out what happens. (Polygon)
Sega console designer Hideki Sato, who shaped nearly all Sega consoles, including Dreamcast and Saturn, has passed away. (Game Developer)
Carlos ‘Sonix’ Perez won GENESIS X3 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. (Esports Insider)
David Hayter will reprise his role as Solid Snake in Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 11 Season One: Operation Silent Hunt. (Polygon)
VC firm Hiro Capital unveiled Hiro Advisory division after helping The Chinese Room and Bulkhead go independent. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Asphalt Legends received a free Nintendo Switch 2 update. (Vooks)
Falcom released new information and screenshots for Kyoto Xanadu. (Gematsu)
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is Steam Deck Verified ahead of its March 27 launch. (RPG Site)
Pokémon Pokopia development sped through thanks to collaboration with Dragon Quest Builders developers Omega Force. (Nintendo Life)
Card-en-Ciel Expansion Pass is now available for $10. (RPG Site)
Biggest releases of the week
