Patch Notes #69 - weekly gaming digest
Welcome to the 69th edition of Patch Notes.
Let’s get this bad boy going. This edition will cover the week from May 18 to May 24, 2026.
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
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)