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Star Wars Zero Company is facing a wave of negative user reviews after a report emerged that approximately 80% of the game's development team was placed on unpaid leave ahead of the title's launch. Players, angered by the treatment of the developers behind the game, took to review platforms to express their frustration, resulting in a coordinated review bombing campaign.
Capcom has stripped Denuvo anti-tamper DRM from Dragon's Dogma 2 on PC, the company confirmed ahead of the game's upcoming Dark Arisen expansion. The move follows a well-established pattern in the industry, where publishers remove Denuvo protection from titles once the software has served its primary commercial purpose of guarding a game during its most lucrative sales window. The update accompanying the DRM removal also brings a sizeable list of additional changes to the base game.
Bandai Namco has pulled back the curtain on Ace Combat Online, a dedicated suite of live-service online modes that will ship alongside Ace Combat 8. The package covers a wide range of multiplayer experiences, including cooperative PvE missions, competitive PvP dogfights, and hybrid PvPvE battles that blend both styles of play. A social hangout space is also part of the offering, giving players a place to gather, show off their aircraft, and connect between matches.
Square Enix has officially announced an end date for the complimentary subscription period that Final Fantasy 14 players on Nintendo Switch 2 have been enjoying. The free ride, which served as a welcoming incentive for players jumping into the critically acclaimed MMO on Nintendo's latest hardware, will soon require players to pay the standard subscription fee to continue their adventures in Eorzea.
A surprise new partnership may be on the horizon for one of gaming's most storied real-time strategy franchises. According to multiple reports, Nexon and Blizzard Entertainment are reportedly closing in on a licensing deal that would see Nexon, not Blizzard, develop the next entry in the StarCraft series. The news has caught many fans off guard, as Blizzard has long been the sole steward of the franchise, but it signals a potentially major shift in how the company manages its legacy IPs.
Nexus Mods' parent company, Chosen, has acquired SteamDB, the widely used community-run Steam data-tracking and analytics site, the two parties announced on September 2, 2026. SteamDB has long served as an invaluable resource for PC gamers and developers alike, offering detailed information on game pricing, player counts, sales history, and backend Steam data. The acquisition brings the independent project under the umbrella of one of gaming's largest modding platforms, with Chosen stating its goal is to provide SteamDB the resources and "long-term stability it deserves."
Nintendo has surprised fans with a free Switch 2 update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the long-reigning champion of couch multiplayer, adding a headline feature that players have long dreamed about: eight-player local split-screen racing. The patch, released on September 2, 2026, lets up to eight players compete simultaneously on a single screen, taking the game's already chaotic party appeal to an entirely new level. This is a significant leap beyond the four-player split-screen that has been the series standard for years.
Rockstar Games is making a notable change to one of its longest-standing gameplay conventions in GTA 6: the classic "tap X to sprint" mechanic is out, replaced by a hold or push of the left stick (L3) to trigger a sprint. The shift, surfaced through a recent YouTuber preview of the game, has set off a wave of debate across social media and gaming communities. For many players, it signals a welcome modernization that brings GTA in line with how most contemporary open-world games handle movement. For others, it feels like the loss of a quirky, franchise-defining touch that tied physical button-mashing energy directly to on-screen momentum.
Over 600 unused voice lines from Resident Evil 4 Remake have leaked online, offering a fascinating glimpse into content that never made it into the final game. Totaling more than 30 minutes of audio, the leaked lines suggest that Capcom had plans to establish a narrative connection between RE4 Remake and Resident Evil Village, a link that was ultimately cut before the game shipped. Among the recordings is at least one line that makes the intended crossover between the two titles explicit, hinting at a broader shared universe ambition that fans had long speculated about but never had concrete evidence for.
CD Projekt Red is having a strong 2026 on multiple fronts. The studio behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 reported $116.5 million (435 million PLN) in revenue for the first half of the year, a 23% year-over-year increase, while profits climbed an impressive 37%. The financial results paint a picture of a studio in rude health, even as its most-anticipated title, The Witcher 4, remains in full production.