Video games, esports, gaming industry, and interactive entertainment
Blizzard is expanding Diablo 4's endgame difficulty from 4 Torment tiers to 12, attempting to make thousands of hours of gear farming feel worthwhile again.
Tom Whitfield 
Pokémon GO players using crowd-sourced data have uncovered what appears to be a significant hidden change to shiny odds. Niantic won't confirm the numbers, raising questions about transparency.
Megan Torres 
Battlefield 6 was 2025's best-selling game and the franchise's biggest launch ever. Yet months later, EA is cutting staff. The numbers reveal a troubling gap between sales success and player retention.
Megan Torres 
Bungie has committed to keeping all story and contract content permanently available in Marathon, a sharp reversal from its controversial Destiny 2 content vault system that removed large amounts of paid material.
Fatima Al-Rashid 
Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has launched a Victim Compensation Protocol to automatically restore ranked points lost to teammates who deliberately throw matches, responding to a controversy sparked by third-party bounty websites.
Priya Narayanan 
Microsoft's CEO insists Xbox will always receive company support as new Project Helix console enters development. But without unlimited funds or exclusive games, does the strategy add up?
Sarah Cheng 
Samsung announced at GDC 2026 that 120 games will support its glasses-free 3D Odyssey platform by year-end, up from about 60 currently. The company is banking on partnerships with major studios to make the technology more than a novelty.
Tom Whitfield 
Shinji Mikami, the legendary game director behind Resident Evil, has launched Unbound Games as an independent studio developing a high-end original IP for PS5, Xbox, and PC.
Sophia Vargas 
Valve scrambled to clarify that the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and new Controller are still coming in 2026, after awkward phrasing sparked widespread speculation about delays.
Tom Whitfield 
Workers at Hyper Light Drifter studio Heart Machine have unionised with the Communications Workers of America, securing voluntary recognition after repeated rounds of layoffs. Their action reflects a broader movement gaining momentum across the gaming industry.
Nina Papadopoulos 
Electronic Arts has laid off staff across its Battlefield development teams, despite the game selling seven million copies in three days. The move signals deeper tensions between launch success and live-service sustainability.
Oliver Pemberton 
Starting 16 March, German Counter-Strike 2 players will see what's inside containers before purchasing them. The change addresses gambling concerns but critics argue it is more loophole than solution.
Priya Narayanan 
Ghost of Yotei Legends launches this week as free multiplayer content, but the real story is how Sucker Punch Productions built it alongside the main game rather than after it.
Megan Torres 
Saber Interactive's leadership has passed on a major licensing opportunity twice due to capacity constraints. The studio's creative chief won't reveal which IP, but says it would shock the world.
Tom Whitfield 
Two decades after release, Master of Epic quietly hums along with a devoted Japanese player base. It's a lesson in how MMOs survive when publishers stop chasing growth.
Tom Whitfield 
The Marathon community has solved the first stage of an elaborate alternate reality game centred on the upcoming Cryo Archive endgame map, revealing mysterious terminals and unsettling footage.
Fatima Al-Rashid 
Bungie's Marathon shows how clever character abilities can transform a crowded genre. The Thief's drone-based pickpocketing mechanic reveals depths that justify months of post-delay development.
Fatima Al-Rashid 
Fortnite has confirmed The Foundation's return for next season with a dramatic teaser mirroring Marvel's Avengers countdown strategy, launching on 19 March 2026.
Megan Torres 
Reports suggest Fortnite will soon welcome Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Emperor Zurg as playable skins, furthering Disney's aggressive strategy to monetise its intellectual property through gaming.
Riley Fitzgerald 
Microsoft has officially unveiled Project Helix, the next Xbox that plays both console and PC games. But the decade-old plan raises hard questions about Microsoft's hardware ambitions.
Jake Nguyen