Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the 2026 remake of Black Flag, has been a critical and commercial success by pretty much every metric, but Ubisoft says it's done remaking classic Assassin's Creed games for now.

In Ubisoft's Fall 2026 update for the Assassin's Creed series, the studio gives an overview of the current Assassin's Creed games in development. No new games are revealed, naturally, but we do get updates on upcoming Assassin's Creed games like the multiplayer-focused Codename Invictus, which Ubisoft says is still in development and "evolving in an exciting direction that better reflects" key Assassin's Creed pillars "while staying true to its multiplayer ambitions."

Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed Hexe, the darker, witchcraft-themed next mainline entry in the series, is "making steady progress" although "there is still work ahead," says Ubisoft. "The team remains focused on delivering the unique vision at the heart of this project, and we'll share our next major update in 2027."

Now, what isn't in development is another Assassin's Creed remake, Ubisoft confirms. While the studio is "super proud of what the Resynced team delivered and how well it was received," it isn't planning anymore remakes at the moment. "Our teams are already focused on the next chapter of Assassin's Creed titles, including projects you haven't heard about yet, featuring new settings and stories," reads Ubisoft's blog.

As some of the legacy Assassin's Creed games are pushing 20 years old now, I do think there's value in remastering or remaking them so that they aren't completely lost to time. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in particular is one I'd love to see remade for modern hardware, and thankfully Ubisoft says it isn't done with remakes forever. "Like many of you, we love the idea of revisiting our classic titles, and we'll keep exploring opportunities to bring older titles back," it says. "That door remains open because, after all... Nothing is true, everything is permitted."

Find out where your fave landed on our ranking of the best Assassin's Creed games.

Gears of War E-Day's Xbox exclusivity did not move the needle for Xbox Series X|S sales, according to Circana games analyst Mat Piscatella.

Speaking to The Game Business, Piscatella notes that – despite negative reception from fans and mixed reviews – PS5 sales in September 2026 were boosted compared to September 2025 thanks to Marvel's Wolverine. He notes that the console bundle and new DualSense controller also did well sales-wise, adding, "In terms of an old-school, 'here's an exclusive game and we're going to sell some consoles and some accessories with it,' I think it's about as good as you could hope from an IP that isn't the level of Spider-Man."

However, the same can't be said for Xbox. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma made a big song and dance about how Gears of War E-Day will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, despite word that a PS5 version was far in development, but since launch, it doesn't seem to have done much for the platform. UK Xbox sales data from Nielsen IQ showed a 22% drop in October, while Circana saw no uplift in the US. Piscatella notes, "All of the new programs they're putting into place, at least in the sales and engagement data that I look at, I'm not seeing [them] have any positive impact.

"Saying Gears is going to be exclusive hasn't made any difference in terms of the hardware trend. In fact, it keeps getting worse," Piscatella says, also noting that since Call of Duty was removed from Xbox Game Pass as a day one release, "you lost a ton of engagement on Xbox because it's no longer on Game Pass, and you got no benefit."

As for Xbox consoles, Piscatella says, "It's really hard to find any signs of positivity or hope on that platform right now." He adds, "Everything they're doing seems to be getting Twitter likes from the most passionate part of their fan base, but other than that, in terms of actual results, I'm not seeing anything right now. And I'm looking really hard."

Gears of War E-Day sold just 62k copies on Xbox versus 1.7 million Game Pass players, analyst estimates: "The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox"

Eiji Aonuma says he's giving the younger staff on the Zelda team guidance about the next mainline title in the series.

Despite effectively being a yearly franchise at this point through remakes, remasters, and spinoffs, all eyes are on what the core Zelda team has been up to for the last three years. While it's only been two years since the last mainline game in the series in Echoes of Wisdom (developed by Grezzo), and with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake right around the corner, many are waiting to see what the follow-up to Tears of the Kingdom will be as the next major entry in the series.

Speaking to AFP following his receiving one of France's top honors – a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters – Aonuma noted that some of the team on the Ocarina of Time remake haven't even played the N64 original, saying that "thanks to these young people" the remake came into being. And while he has been part of the franchise since the original Ocarina of Time was released, he doesn't seem to be leaving the series any time soon.

In his speech, Aonuma said, "I'm very interested to see what the younger staff will imagine" for the series' future, and that he's "extremely happy" to offer guidance and "think together" about what the next Zelda game will look like.

Currently, Nintendo has given no indication of when we can expect the next Zelda game or what it'll be, but since it'll be four years since the release of Tears of the Kingdom next May, I'm hoping we'll know more in the near future.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time designer wanted Navi to be a "cute girl," but "that wasn't possible" with the Nintendo 64

In what was starting to feel like an inevitability, FromSoftware has now confirmed that The Duskbloods has been delayed – it'll now be launching sometime in 2027.

Up to now, The Duskbloods was set to launch sometime in 2026, and, well, we're rapidly running out of 2026. Last month's Nintendo Direct came and went without a release date for the game, and we only have two months left of the year.

"While development of 'The Duskbloods' is at the final adjustment stage, we have made the decision to move the launch window to 2027," FromSoftware confirms in an announcement post on Twitter. "We apologize to players who have been kindly awaiting the release of this title and thank you for your patience and support."

In a follow-up post, FromSoft adds: "During the network test, we saw active interest in the core concepts of the game, including combat, strategic depth, and player expression. To further enhance these aspects, we have decided to move the launch, allowing time for final adjustments to game rules and balancing."

The aforementioned network test, which took place back in August, certainly wasn't the smoothest experience. The first test session ended up being canceled entirely after the servers became overwhelmed and fans got stuck on its title screen. Even when the doors were finally opened, players reported performance issues, and not everyone was a fan of the PvP experience to begin with. At least it treated us to our beloved Zork, though.

What feels a tad concerning about this delay, though, is the lack of release window provided. A vague promise of 2027 means that The Duskbloods could, in theory, be delayed for a full year or more depending on how much time FromSoftware determines it needs. Here's hoping that's not the case, but for now, it's clear that the devs have work to do.

FromSoftware's first-ever player romance builds on "the maidens in Elden Ring," says Hidetaka Miyazaki: "It's a transient, ephemeral love, which is maybe a motif I'm striving for."

The clipped-wing Dodo aeroplane, sporadically stealable from the rear runway of Francis International Airport, neatly embodies the Rockstar Games of 2001. Although Grand Theft Auto 3 will always be able to stand on its own merits as an uncommonly bleak videogame nasty that also shaped the whole sandbox crime genre, even in its day it felt somehow incomplete, as if its creator was reaching for something just beyond its grasp. Similarly, the Dodo can soar dozens of feet off the ground, but it quickly and inevitably reaches the limit of its engine power and slumps back down to earth. There is a sense of a living, reactive city in GTA 3, but at the same time it feels limited, locked off, as though you're never given full access to the dynamic urban reality it implies. On the scant few occasions that you can enter one of Liberty City's buildings, for example, there isn't anyone or anything in there, and you reach the end of the game with a sense that there is much more in Rockstar's crime series that remains to be explored.

In GTA: Vice City, released a mere 13 months after GTA 3, you are not constrained to the Dodo. From the seat of a helicopter, a seaplane or a fully outfitted Apache attack chopper, you can fly high and free. In just over a year, Rockstar's ability to build sprawling and explorable 3D cities appears to have come on leaps and bounds.

There are other telling mechanical additions. Expanding on the comparatively austere GTA 3, in Vice City you can ride motorbikes, buy property, change your clothes, and discover unmarked ambient side missions such as robbing a pharmacy or beating up gang members to earn the 'good citizen' cash bonus.

Rockstar's sunkissed, heat-vapour-saturated pastel caricature of Miami is a sight to behold, but, more importantly, you can explore its interiors too. Between the Malibu Club, the Pole Position, the shopping malls and the Pizza Stack restaurants – not to mention the various hotels, apartments and places of business that you acquire as you progress through the main story – this aptly named metropolis of iniquity is packed with places to go, NPCs to meet, and small but immersion-enhancing interactions. Today, we take all of this for granted. Customisable characters, optional sidequests and small, tertiary mechanics that help to boost verisimilitude have come to be regarded as the mere rudiments of the open-world genre. But way back in 2002 – especially on a console, and outside of the fantasy-RPG realm – a game where this amount of effort was put into pure worldbuilding, and where you could have a perfectly rewarding time simply basking in the atmosphere, still felt exceptional.

Nevertheless, two and a half decades on, some of the changes and enhancements made between GTA 3 and Vice City might sound superficial, or even faintly ridiculous. In the same way that you might chuckle at the size of the earliest mobile phones or recall with a certain irony the 'magic' of wireless Internet, it's funny to imagine a world where the ability to crouch in a Grand Theft Auto game, or to jump out of a moving car if it was on fire, felt like a novelty. Vice City emerged in an era when the conventions of the 3D open-world game – especially the 3D open-world crime game – were still far from codified, when the mechanical language of the subgenre was unfinished. Seen from that perspective, Rockstar's vision for the game starts to feel cavalier, like it's trying to tap X repeatedly to sprint before it can walk. There's no swimming, climbing walls or moving while crouching in Vice City, but there are celebrity voiceovers, a fully licensed soundtrack, and a recognisable representation of the mansion (and climactic shootout) from Scarface.

You might get the sense that presentation was more important to 2002 Rockstar than pragmatism, as though the studio was channelling its creative energy towards superficial goals (aping big-budget movies; showing off a pseudo-cinematic production quality) in lieu of honing or pushing the playing experience. Certainly, the driving, the shooting and the level designs that are supposed to form the game's centre remain largely unchanged from GTA 3. Or you could even go back to Grand Theft Auto, from 1997; the tasks that you receive in the top-down original version of Liberty City almost always involve driving somewhere, killing a bunch of people, picking something up and driving back, and that's also what you do for most of your time in Vice City. It looks gorgeous, and there's plenty to see and explore, but the game can be seen more as an incremental advance than a full-bodied sequel – understandable when you consider that it started life as a GTA 3 add-on.

However, the magic of Vice City – and of videogames in general – lies in more than mechanics, mission design or any other tangibles of the form. Even though Vice City may have fundamentally the same structure and systems as GTA 3, True Crime, Mafia and many comparable crime capers that emerged during the '00s, it nevertheless feels like the standout because of its aesthetic approach. The stinking, smoky, weather-beaten concrete brutalism of Liberty City – and the moral squalor that it symbolises – is replaced wholesale with sunshine, vibrancy and an airier, freer, much more feel-good tone.

Prior to Vice City, the sensory thrills of GTA had been rooted largely in depravity, the transgressive excitement that comes from simulating actions and behaviours that are too dark, immoral and illegal for you ever to consider in reality. They're by no means fully grown up, but in Vice City, Rockstar's virtual fantasies appear more mature. In addition to killing cops with rocket launchers, flinging cars off of ramps and driving a tank through traffic, you're encouraged, surreptitiously or otherwise, towards more plausible and contemplative pleasures. When you reminisce about Vice City today, alongside all the ultraviolence and automotive pyrotechnics, you're also likely to fondly recall the first time you went inside the Malibu Club, or the party mission aboard Colonel Cortez's yacht, or cruising down Ocean Beach in a convertible Stinger while listening to Broken Wings. With GTA 3, Rockstar succeeded in creating a 3D open playground; with Vice City, it started to develop and more finely shape what would eventually become its trademark – a rounded, reactive, and much more enveloping open world.

Vice City's landscape is more than a racing track, and you're invited to regard its citizenry as more than digital toys for you to smash up in variously creative ways. But while it is a broader and deeper game than GTA 3 – and also represents a crucial development in the history of open-world maps, and how they've become progressively larger – it is still very carefully contained. There are exceptions, but in the latter half of the game in particular, when you're set loose to purchase assets and front companies, the majority of the side missions feel as if they are still connected to the central spine of the narrative. It's up to you which businesses you want to buy and which of their accompanying mission chains you want to follow, but all of them are ultimately connected to Tommy Vercetti's core goal of constructing his criminal empire. Even today, this kind of design feels like a rarity. If there is a consistent problem with sandbox and open-world games, it's that they offer too much in the way of meaningless 'content', expecting you to be enthralled by completing banal sidequests in the name of sheer running time. But in Vice City – for the most part, at least – you have a reasonable understanding of why your character is doing the things he's doing. The effect is incomplete, and naturally primitive compared to much later games such as Cyberpunk 2077, but in Vice City you can see that Rockstar is trying to unify the free-flowing, player-driven open world with cogent, coherent storytelling.

This effort – to make the game feel simultaneously large and comprehensible, reactive to you as a player but nonetheless directed and choreographed by the designers, so that there is dramatic thrust behind everything you do – is ultimately reflected in the map itself, every part of which has its own identifying characteristic: the Ammu-Nation and helipad in Downtown, the multi-storey car park and hotels in Ocean Beach, the airport and the rocket-launcher pickup near Little Havana.

Rather than simply being big, Rockstar's interpretation of Miami is dense. Whether interactive or purely visual, each street contains a point of interest, and the missions are designed so that you're bound to visit every district. Again, it makes the game feel remarkably modern. If the open worlds of today struggle with one particular problem – that there's a lot more map than there are engaging or worthwhile things to do on it – Rockstar, as early as 2002, seems to have appreciated the value of details and meaningful minutiae over size.

Twenty-four years ago, Vice City's appeal might have laid in its new vehicles, its encompassing '80s soundtrack and its enormous cast of celebrity voices. One of the reasons we fell in love with it was because it felt 'bigger' than GTA 3, and perhaps any other game of the era. In hindsight, though, and in the context of more than two decades of sandbox and open-world giants, it's a pleasure to play because of how focused and contained it feels, and how for each inch of the experience there is the detectable authorial hand of its creator steering us along.

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far! Or, check out our best GTA games list for what to play while you wait!

This isn't a drill – Rockstar has shared some brand new GTA 6 footage, but it's probably not in the place you'd expect. The latest gameplay clip was showcased in the latest episode of South Park, and it's dog shit.

No, really. Around 20 seconds of footage begins with a dog pooping on the ground before a pedestrian picks it up. Enter protagonist Jason, who then throws something at the pedestrian, picks up the dog poop himself, and hits them around the face with it as they react in horror. It's not the feature I was anticipating or hoping for out of GTA 6, if I'm being honest, but it's very funny. Once again, Rockstar proves that no expense has been spared when it comes to the details in its upcoming blockbuster, huh?

Not only is this genuine footage – as confirmed by the "special thanks" to Rockstar Games in the episode's credits – but there's a neat nod to GTA 5's old marketing that veteran fans might recognize, too.

The woman excitedly narrating the footage in the episode – "You can throw things at the person with dog poop, and if they choose to fight back, you can pick up the dog poop and actually attack them with the dog poop," she gushes – was voiced by Tish Hicks. Hicks also narrated the GTA 5 Official Gameplay Video back in July 2013, so this isn't her first rodeo with Grand Theft Auto marketing, and the fact that she's been involved is genuinely really cool.

It's a big day for GTA 6 news – today also saw the publication of Edge magazine's big GTA 6 cover feature, which you can read here. We've learned plenty from it – Rockstar promises an RPG experience so deep that "you can have your life in the game," and reveals that the game "felt too fast" when the devs tried to run it like GTA 5 because of how much visual performance has improved in the last 13 years.

600,000 animations are the appetizer: Rockstar gave GTA 6 NPCs meticulous personality traits to control how they react to you, and now I get why we've been waiting 13 years.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is right around the corner now, and it's bound to win the hearts of both longtime fans and newcomers alike – especially since some of its developers were newcomers to the beloved game themselves.

Producer Eiji Aonuma, who served as game scenario director and dungeon designer on the original Ocarina of Time way back in 1998, reveals as much in a new interview with AFP, explaining that it's a good thing that some of the younger developers on the new remake have never actually played its predecessor.

It helps modernize things a bit, and adds much-needed fresh perspectives to the blend – the OG is nearly 30 years old, after all.

"It's thanks to these young people, by thinking about how to adapt the game in the best possible way, how to make it fun once you have the controls in your hands, that this remake came into being," Aonuma explains.

This makes sense, if you ask me, and it lines up with the positivity the Nintendo mastermind has previously expressed toward younger devs – like when he was made Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters at the French culture ministry.

While receiving the honor – which Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto previously received, too – Aonuma mentioned them, saying he's "very interested to see what the younger staff will imagine" for future titles and admitting he's "extremely happy" to offer guidance so they can all "think together" about the legendary game series' future entries.

I suppose the Ocarina of Time remake is just the beginning, then, of seeing newer devs' efforts come to fruition.

It seems as though it'll be one heck of a game, as well. It's got the sauce that made us fall in love with it some 28 years ago while also bringing new features to the table, from sidequests to dungeon tweaks and Breath of the Wild's option to turn off the UI for more immersion (and difficulty, if you can stomach it).

Plus, you know, the jump button we've wanted for decades – which apparently had actually existed early in development before.

As for what else the younger devs that Aonuma mentions have brought to the table for the Ocarina of Time remake – I suppose we'll just have to wait and see when it finally arrives early next month on November 5.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time designer wanted Navi to be a "cute girl," but "that wasn't possible" with the Nintendo 64

GTA 6 will offer more of an RPG experience than any other game in the series, but Rockstar admits you don't want players to "reject" systems because there are too many of them.

Speaking with Edge, head of development Aaron Garbutt explains, "You can really make the game what you want it to be at the time, whether that's more of a roleplay experience where you're buying cigarettes and beer in the shop and going on the train for the day, or going to a club. You can have your life in the game."

But according to Rob Nelson, another head of development, there's a balance to strike: "You don't want to feel like you're foisting things on the player and then have them reject those things. It's more about trying to let people lean into the way they want to play."

He explains that Rockstar isn't aiming to simply add more and more activities to the player's roster as the game goes on, but to allow them to find their favorites and settle into a rhythm around that.

That even extends to spending a day not behind the wheel of a car, but in the embrace of Vice City's public transit system. Another lead dev, Phil Hooker, says that making sure the buses run on time and to the right place is a personal obsession, so much so that in the middle of playtesting he'll jump on a bus instead of driving to his next location, just to check that they work: "I've memorized all of the routes."

It sounds as though you'll really be able to delve into some deep RPG systems, so much so that you might go for hours without having to engage with the roleplaying systems that drive the game's core mechanics, like the Wanted system. The number of hours that seem like they could be lost to side content is a somewhat daunting prospect, given how substantial the main game is likely to be, but I suppose that, given that people are still out here investing time in GTA 5, perhaps that's no great surprise.

GTA 6 actors get advice from Grand Theft Auto veterans: "Listen to Rockstar" and "get ready".

In the process of tweaking GTA 6's open world to make it feel believable, Rockstar implemented GTA 5's timings only to find that "everything felt too fast" and that a change was needed to stick the landing.

That comes from a new interview featured in Edge magazine – on sale now, by the way – where several lead developers on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto game share how it all finally came together.

The earliest days of GTA 6 were more about place than plot. With most of Rockstar still working on Red Dead Redemption 2, the initial work on the project involved a small group traveling to Miami to get a better feel of what a return to Vice City would entail. While GTA 6's Bonnie-and-Clyde-style story would eventually come into focus, it wouldn't be before Rockstar applied lessons learned from building RDR2 to GTA 6.

Many of the lessons manifested in minor details that collectively paint a bigger picture that looks unlike GTA 5. While the roads of Los Santos are intentionally wider to make driving and turning easier, the roads of Vice City are narrower, as Rockstar North boss Rob Nelson wanted "a more believable size." The duration of day and night is also longer, giving you a greater window to get up to mischief under cover of night, if you so please.

The changes to GTA 6 compared to GTA 5 were also brought about by improvements in visual performance. For example, Rockstar tested GTA 6 using GTA 5's timings and found that "everything felt too fast" for a world that boasts the level of fidelity that Vice City can reach. The citizens who call Vice City home were equally problematic.

"As the resolution of the worlds goes up, I think there are things you can't get away with in the same way," Nelson explains. "If you want a pedestrian population to behave believably, and you can stand in front of them and produce an automatic shotgun out of nowhere and they don't react, then that doesn't work. That barely held in GTA 5, where you could literally produce one of those weapons in front of somebody and they would not react unless you aimed it at them. Only then would they run. To me, that was already showing its age in GTA 5 at that level of resolution."

Making GTA 6 was, then, equal parts evolving what worked in Red Dead Redemption 2 and being mindful of what's changed in the 13 years between GTA 5 and 6. A higher level of performance means that the ceiling has been raised, but as Rockstar has learned over the years, the floor has also been raised. GTA 6 is due to release on November 19.

Check out our Countdown to GTA 6 here as we explore the Rockstar games that got us here

GTA 6 is so detailed that Rockstar Games has created around 600,000 animations solely for the game's NPCs, ensuring that they feel more individual.

In a new interview with Edge magazine for issue 430, it's revealed that Rockstar assembled a full team in Los Angeles tasked with bringing GTA 6's NPCs to life in a way that'd make them feel more like real people with more unique characteristics, instead of solely relying on procedural systems to make crowds that simply serve to fill an empty space.

After art directing each one, around 600,000 animations were created, which is wild to think about – it sounds like the average player could be playing for years and not see all of them. Leonida's pedestrians all have personality traits, too, with factors such as their temperament, the player's behavior towards them, and their own levels of aggression influencing how they respond to different situations.

Rob Nelson, co-studio head at Rockstar North, says the process of creating all these NPCs involved asking: "Who’s going to be aggressive? How many people are going to go for a weapon? How many are going to test me?"

Over half a million NPC animations is an almost unfathomable level of detail, though – it's stuff like that that makes it understandable why there's been a 13-year gap between GTA 6 and GTA 5. It also helps explain its apparently enormous file size – according to PlayStation Store sleuth PlayStation Game Size on Twitter, Rockstar's behemoth clocks in at a whopping 210GB. You might want to start clearing some space now before we get to launch day.

Not even Rockstar heads know everything that's in GTA 6 because devs will just add stuff – which is also how Red Dead Redemption 2 got its absurd horse testicle physics.

My favorite part of every Grand Theft Auto game is discovering Rockstar's carefully curated music selection, and from what we've heard so far the GTA 6 soundtrack is fully packed with earworms. I'm a classic rock guy, and ever since the extended look dropped I've had Cliff Richard's Devil Woman playing on repeat. Despite the new wave of attention pointed at his music, however, Richard himself apparently still doesn't know what GTA 6 actually is.

"I was told this happened!" Richard recently told The Times (via IGN). "My nephew, who has two boys, said they came screaming to him, 'Dad, it’s Uncle Cliff!' They didn’t realise I could sing like that. The show is a game show, isn’t it, really? One of the biggest on TV?"

Richard was an influential figure in the early days of British rock and roll, and he's remained an active artist well into the '20s, though his popularity never reached the same global heights that it did in the UK. Still, getting a prominent spot in what's likely to be the biggest video game release of all time does wonders in reaching a new generation of fans, and Richard can appreciate that part of it, at least.

"People will no longer just say, 'Oh, Cliff Richard is from the past,'" he adds. "Because I am, but that past is what makes everything what it is today." Past or present, Devil Woman remains an absolute banger.

GTA 6 actors get advice from Grand Theft Auto veterans: "Listen to Rockstar" and "get ready"

The GTA 6 release is quickly approaching, and it's set to be one of the biggest video game releases of all time – so big, in fact, that analysts say nearly one in three gamers is looking to indulge in Rockstar's long-awaited sixth Grand Theft Auto entry.

That's a hefty figure… one that comes straight from global market research and consumer behavior advisor Circana, along with commentary from veteran analyst and company lead Mat Piscatella.

To be more precise, it's 29% – a good 29% of gamers in the United States, both on console and PC, intend to purchase GTA 6. This number marks Rockstar's game as the most-ever anticipated video game release in Circana's tracking history.

"Grand Theft Auto 6 represents a rare cultural and commercial moment for the video game industry," Piscatella writes. "Players have been waiting 13 years for a sequel to Grand Theft Auto 5, and demand is expected to extend beyond software sales to include consoles, accessories, and gaming subscriptions as consumers prepare for launch."

It's wild to think about, really. GTA 6 won't just sell a plethora of game copies, either. It'll also sell consoles.

"Many consumers who have yet to upgrade to a current-generation console may choose to purchase a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series specifically to play the title," as Piscatella notes – and this applies to folks who otherwise game on PC, too, as Rockstar won't be releasing GTA 6 on computer storefronts just yet.

Put simply, it'll spur a whole lot of buying and consuming, both in the software and hardware department.

"As retailers prepare for Black Friday and holiday season demand, Grand Theft Auto 6 will be a major driver of software sales, hardware upgrades, and gaming-related tech purchases throughout the fourth quarter," Piscatella concludes. "Its anticipation and popularity reinforces the growing influence of video games on the broader entertainment and consumer technology markets." Boy, does it.

Interestingly, as huge and influential as GTA 6 evidently is, Piscatella recently said that devs shouldn't "fear" launching around Rockstar's behemoth, since many people "are going to want to play other things," too.

I suppose he's not wrong on that end either, though – there's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, for instance, and a handful of other nice November releases to look forward to.

But, admittedly, GTA 6 is the November release, as it stands now. Managing to draw nearly one in three gamers, whether primarily on console or PC, is no small feat, after all – especially when you consider how big the American market is in particular.

Former GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 designer says layoffs at Rockstar aren't the real danger – "The question is whether you can meet the expectations"

GTA 5 and San Andreas' leading men have given some advice to the new GTA 6 leads as the game is poised to change their lives forever.

In the pantheon of iconic gaming protagonists, there are many superpowered beings, creatures, chosen ones, and heroes. But GTA, as a series, has managed to create a number of gaming icons who are just guys. Sure, they can take a lot of damage, survive massive car crashes, and survive a blimp crash as long as Davey is in the vicinity, but for all intents and purposes they are just guys. And yet, you can't go a week without seeing CJ saying "Aw shit, here we go again." So the role of a GTA protagonist is a big space to fill, and one that our currently officially unknown (but fans have likely figured it out) leads of GTA 6 will have to learn firsthand in about a month's time.

Speaking to All Out Gaming at MCM Comic Con, Ned Luke, Shawn Fonteno, and Steven Ogg – GTA 5's Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, respectively – and Young Maylay – GTA San Andreas' Carl 'CJ' Johnson – were asked what their advice is for the upcoming duo of GTA leads. "Have fun," Luke says, while Maylay imparts, "get ready." Fonteno says, "just listen to Rockstar," adding, "they're going to lead you in the right direction," while taking a page out of his cousin's book, saying, "get ready" and that "it's a ride that they're going to be on for a while."

Maylay also warned the trio that "my game was 20 years ago. So when [GTA] 6 comes out, you guys will be in my position." He explains that everyone lining up to meet him at Comic Con are "the OG's," recalling, "You got the guys with the gray hair coming in saying, 'Hey, man, you're the guy CJ,'" Maylay adds, "you're going to grow with your fanbase."

However, despite the different generations of gamers having played different GTA entries, Maylay notes, "It's not like everything's gonna get shut down from you guys, because I wasn't shut down because of you guys."

GTA: Vice City's writing was "awful," Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser says, but acting icon Ray Liotta "made it sound good"

GTA 6 developers at Rockstar Games will begin the vote on the studio's proposed union right as the new Grand Theft Auto lets players start pre-loading the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

News of the impending Rockstar union vote comes from Aftermath, which shared a statement from the Independent Workers' union of Great Britain (IWGB), a labor union with widespread reach including a significant presence in games. IWGB has helped Rockstar developers organize their own studio union to bargain for benefits, rights, and protections.

The voting period will run from November 12 through November 26. GTA 6 launches Thursday, November 19, and pre-loading for the hotly anticipated game starts a week earlier. Rumors indicate GTA 6 is a 210GB download on PS5, so pre-loading ought to come in handy.

While the most-anticipated game of all time is devoured by millions players, many of the people who made it will be charting the future of their workplace. If the vote clears, Rockstar will officially be unionized, which would be a major step forward for the already humming labor push in the broader games industry. Just this month, D&D and Magic The Gathering developers unionized.

IWGB Game Workers shared Aftermath's story online. The agreement, if passed, will "grant workers a say over issues including pay and bonuses, overtime, redundancies, flexible working, and generative AI policies," the union reiterates.

"The terms of the recognition deal, agreed upon by workers and management, would give workers a say over topics including pay and bonuses, overtime, redundancies, flexible working arrangements, and generative AI policies," a press release reads (thanks, Rock Paper Shotgun).

Shanti Easton-Steel, a committee member for the Rockstar Game Workers Union, discussed what's being voted on: "When management choices are kept hidden, we can’t properly address issues like the gender pay gap, the uneven and ever-changing policies on overtime pay, or the concerns many co-workers hold around job security post-release."

"This is our moment to secure a window onto the decisions that shape our lives, and a seat at the table to improve them. I’m immensely proud of the games Rockstar gives its fans – I want to be equally proud of the voice Rockstar gives its staff," Easton-Steel adds.

This vote follows a messy and ongoing legal dispute over Rockstar staff, including many unionizing staff, who were fired for allegedly leaking "confidential information." Rockstar has repeatedly denied claims of union busting.

Rockstar also has a documented history of crunch, a term often used in game development to describe extended periods of heavy, often under-compensated, and quietly (or loudly) mandated overtime during production – the exact sort of thing that game unions have worked to prevent or control.

Rockstar devs allege crunch is so common at the GTA 6 studio that it's "built into" contracts and you have to "opt out" of it.

GTA 6 download size clocks in at 210GB on PS5, according to PlayStation Store sleuth PlayStation Game Size.

In a brief Twitter post, the PGS account, known for reasonably reliably sharing details on upcoming PlayStation games, notes the reported GTA 6 GB size.

Unsurprisingly, this would make GTA 6 significantly larger than GTA 5, which comes in at 105GB on PC. In fairness, GTA 5 did come out several empires ago; a more recent comparison would be Red Dead Redemption 2, which is 150GB on PC. There's also the question of GTA 5 versus GTA Online as storage hogs.

This figure is obviously unconfirmed, and it's also worth noting that download sizes and install sizes can differ, as can PS5 and Xbox Series X game file sizes, though only slightly. When we inevitably get a GTA 6 PC port, its impact on your drive may also be meaningfully different.

For example, the base PS5 sizes for GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are actually closer to 100 - 110GB, with physical and digital versions reflecting different downloads.

As a reminder, GTA 6 pre-loading opens on November 12, a week ahead of the game's November 19 launch. If GTA 6 is actually in the range of 200GB or more, a lot of people will want to get that download started early. You'll assuredly still need to go through some sort of day-one update come November 19, but pre-loading can save you a lot of valuable time that could be spent playing GTA 6.

GTA 6 exclusive leads Edge 430 – check out the 16-page cover feature that includes interviews with Rockstar, bespoke screenshots, and more this week

The latest issue of Edge magazine is out this week, and it isn't one to miss for GTA 6 fans.

As part of Edge 430, the team has paid Rockstar a visit at its Edinburgh HQ to talk all things GTA 6. The issue's huge 16-page cover story features exclusive interviews and imagery detailing the most ambitious project in Rockstar’s history, wrapped up with a special gatefold cover showcasing artwork of lead characters Jason and Lucia.

Check out the sneak peek below:

The new issue of Edge magazine will go on sale October 29, but the good news doesn't stop there. To coincide with the release, the full feature will be released for you to read online for free right here on GamesRadar+. Just follow the link provided on the day.

Those of you in the UK can get a collector's edition for free, plus 13 issues of Edge at 38% off the newsstand price, by subscribing at the link. You'll need to be quick, though, as that's while stocks last.

Outside the UK, new annual subs will be sent a free digital edition of the complete special GTA 6 issue. If you're interested, you can subscribe here.

The GTA 6-led version of Edge is the latest slice of new information we're getting in the build-up to the long-awaited launch next month. That all truly kicked off with GTA 6's extended look on Netflix at the end of August, though we've had plenty since to tease what's on the way.

GTA 6 is due to release November 19, 2026.

It's no secret that the GTA 6 launch will likely prove one of the biggest video game releases, well, ever – but that doesn't mean other developers have to fear being overshadowed by the Rockstar behemoth in November.

Veteran analyst and Circana games lead Mat Piscatella seems to believe as much, anyway, telling GamesBeat that some devs' worries about launching near GTA 6 might be a tad "overblown," so to speak.

"The fear of many teams to put their game in the same window as GTA is completely overblown," he says. "GTA is going to be a massive game. Of course it is." But that doesn't mean that literally everyone cares about it.

It's going to be a huge cultural event, but not every one of the 49 million people who own a PS5 or an Xbox Series in the US is going to be interested in that," as Piscatella puts it. "There are a whole bunch of people who are going to want to play other things."

For example, "There's a whole Switch market that's going to want to play other things because they won't be able to play Grand Theft Auto." And, you know, PC.

That's why Piscatella advises devs who aren't aiming for the same target audience that GTA 6 is to not worry – like "any kind of cozy game or life sim or first-person shooter." There's more to gamers' interests than Rockstar, after all. "Just because Grand Theft Auto is there doesn't mean there isn't a potential market to address."

Heck, I'm proof myself. I'm not too big on GTA, but I'm looking forward to a lot of November releases.

There's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for one – but, alas, various other devs have also chosen to avoid next month as a potential launch window, as Piscatella predicted last year.

"Everyone's just scared," as the analyst says. "I guess I get it, but I just think it's completely overblown." Plus, it's, uh, "given GTA a completely wide-open window because everyone else moved," leaving it a bit bare in November release-wise, all things considered.

Piscatella concludes that "we'll see what happens, stating that he thinks "this is more fear than anything else." But, still, "We haven't seen a game this big in… literally 13 years!" It is one of those new games that everyone, fan or not, knows about, I suppose.

Former GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 designer says layoffs at Rockstar aren't the real danger – "The question is whether you can meet the expectations"

Ubisoft has announced that this week's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced update will be its "final major content update."

Last week, Ubisoft broke its months-long silence on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced by revealing a forthcoming New Game Plus mode, and at the time I questioned whether that would be the only thing in the update. Now we have all the answers, with Ubisoft's patch notes detailing a higher difficulty mode, hidden community chests, new takedowns, new cosmetics, and a host of bug fixes. Not bad at all for the revamped pirate game's final sendoff.

The New Game Plus mode is pretty standard, letting you play through the main quest from the beginning with everything you picked up in your previous playthrough, and with an increasing world difficulty for every new playthrough. Same goes for Nightmare difficulty as the game's hardest challenge with the "deadliest" enemies. Specifically, all of your foes will deal 1.8x their normal damage, parries will be trickier to pull off, and crucially, the one-shot kill safety will be disabled, meaning any stray bullet will have the potential to take you out even if you're full health. Meanwhile, stealth will be more tilted in your enemies' favor, all ships will do more damage to your own, and even sea creatures like sharks and jellyfish will be more dangerous than before.

There isn't a whole lot of information on the new community chests, but Ubisoft says they'll be "more challenging" to find and will include "special community requested rewards."

In a nice little throwback to 2013's Black Flag, the final Resynced update will add new takedowns from the original game, including hidden blade, unarmed, single sword and gunblade takedowns. Why these weren't in the remake to start with, I have no idea, but better late than never. Rounding out the update are a bunch of new cosmetics including new outfits, new pet skins, and trinkets, which you can uncover by playing the New Game Plus mode, as well as a treasure chest full of bug fixes.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced version 1.0.8 releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 27.

Find out where Black Flag ranks on our list of the best Assassin's Creed games ever.

Despite being in limbo for years, the BioShock movie director Francis Lawrence says they're "close" to a breakthrough amid a leadership shake-up at Netflix.

"I hope so. You know, it's tricky on a couple fronts," Lawrence admitted to The Direct. "I'm definitely active in it. We are still working on it. It is a tough nut to crack that world and that story, especially because you are the character when you play the game, and so creating that character from scratch into that world that quite honestly, is pretty batshit in a most amazing way. It's tricky. So we're getting there, and we're getting close, which is great."

An adaptation of BioShock, which revolved around an underwater art-deco utopian society gone very, very wrong, would surely be a surefire hit for fans who have been desperate to see Rapture brought to life. But Lawrence warns that Netflix's current situation – the streamer fired head of film Dan Lin and chief content officer Bela Bajaria – could prove a roadblock.

"I would love nothing more than to be able to make that movie. So still working on it," Lawrence said. "And then, you have also just the Netflix of it all because Netflix right now has had regime changes and just all of that kind of nonsense that I don't like to have to deal with or have to. So we'll see. Hopefully we'll figure it out."

A BioShock movie was announced at Netflix back in 2022. Since then, there have been small bursts of updates – including producer Roy Lee revealing last year that the feature film would be based on the 2007 game.

Lee was quoted as saying earlier this year that Netflix and publishers Take-Two were "very anxious" to release the movie in line with "potential new incarnations of the game."

Lawrence also told GamesRadar+ this month that he was "dying" to make the BioShock movie, which has since been retooled with a smaller budget.

For more, check out the upcoming video game movies in the works, plus all the latest new PS5 games heading your way.

Shigeru Miyamoto says the most interesting thing about the original Super Mario Bros. is the fact that Mario doesn't actually fight Bowser in the 1985 platformer.

Last week, Miyamoto – who created the likes of The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pikmin – received the Japanese Order of Culture from the Japanese government and is the first-ever game developer to win the award, which typically has been awarded to actors, musicians, and Nobel Prize laureates. Miyamoto is perhaps best known for his unique ideas in game design, with stories of his unorthodox methods during playtesting at Nintendo widely reported, so it's no surprise he has some unique opinions about his own titles.

Speaking at a press conference following his award, attended by Denfaminicogamer, Miyamoto details what he believes is the most intriguing aspect of the 1985 platformer that single-handedly changed the industry as we know it. But rather than its innovation in platforming through its scrolling screens and secrets, Miyamoto singles out the game's boss fights; namely, the fact that they really aren't fights at all.

Miyamoto notes that the developers were struggling with how to create a climactic battle, but eventually had the thought that since the game is about running to the right, why not make the bosses that way? So from there, Bowser's 'fights' – which consisted of jumping over him and a number of projectiles he shot to destroy the bridge from beneath him – were born.

And from there on out, Mario's fights with Bowser became more like actual fights, such as throwing his explosives at the clown car in Super Mario World or grabbing his tail and launching him into explosives in Super Mario 64. Although Miyamoto does neglect to mention that you can fight Bowser in Super Mario Bros., given that throwing enough fireballs at him will also kill him.

Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto says AI "provides an opportunity to reflect on what's really important" in game dev, "which I think is a positive thing"

Alix Wilton Regan discussed the realities of filming high-octane action scenes as Lara Croft for Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis during her menstrual cycle.

Speaking as a guest on the GamesRadar G+RLS podcast, Alix addressed the confidence required to play the iconic hero while wearing skin-tight motion capture catsuits, shifting the conversation to a topic rarely, if ever, discussed by action stars in the gaming space: menstruation.

"Occasionally I’m on my period the week that we film," she shared candidly. "And you know, that’s okay. And then I was thinking about it and I was like, my God, of all of Lara's adventures, if we imagine her as a real woman. She’s also been on her period at points."

The Cyberpunk 2077 and Dragon Age actor didn't mince words regarding the awkwardness that often meets the subject in professional settings, pushing back directly against the stigma. "You can just imagine people going like, 'don't say the P-word.' And I’m like, well, guys, it's a natural bodily function of being a woman. It's what has gifted you humanity. So the correct answer is thank you."

She explained that at the times when her cycle leaves her feeling less than her best, she relies on physical anchors to tap into Lara’s legendary swagger. "On weeks where you do feel like, 'I'm on my period, or I'm not as confident, or I'm not feeling as sassy or as cool,' it's just something about Lara that gets you there.”

Lara's iconic weaponry certainly helps. “You put those dual pistols on, because on the PCAP stage, I get to put the holster on. And instantly you feel confident and you feel really grounded, which is why I ask for it in scenes, even when I'm not using it, because it adds weight and bulk to your thighs. So it lowers your center of gravity, which just kind of roots you to the earth, and it does make you feel more confident. It just makes me feel stronger, you know?"

Join us for a new episode of G+RLS every other Friday and let us know what you'd love to hear us talking about. We're available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, and Amazon Music.

Last week, it was reported that Microsoft's negotiations over the fate of Arkane Studios could be reaching an impasse as the deadline approached. The home of the Xbox brand has since confirmed the end date has been extended, allowing more time for a positive resolution.

Since summer, union representatives have been discussing what'll ultimately happen to Arkane in Xbox's grand restructuring with Microsoft. French law requires that any layoffs involving 1,000 or more people include an attempt to consider alternatives before letting people go.

As such, PlayStation's rival has to sit at the table with the makers of Dishonored and look at where the studio could go. Several options are being considered, presumably meaning the team could be sold to another publisher or media group.

Microsoft's been generally tight-lipped, but in a statement to PC Gamer, it was revealed that the timeline is growing longer. "We have extended the consultation period by one additional month as we explore options," a representative told the outlet, "including finding a partner to support the studio through the development work still ahead. This is a defined extension, and we remain committed to keeping the Works Council informed throughout the process."

The "development work still ahead" is on Marvel's Blade, a project that was announced in 2023. There are conflicting reports on its status, as a union rep told French outlet Le Monde it was nearing completion, whereas PC Gamer now says sources claim it still has years to go.

Regardless, any and all unreleased games become potential casualties amid the kind of layoffs Xbox is making. But at least it seems like everyone involved wants Blade to see the light of day.

Unfortunately, what comes after is still to be seen. Even if Arkane is bought, the likelihood remains that some jobs will be cut by the new owner. It's a sad situation. Watch this space.

Xbox COO and ex-Minecraft boss leaves Microsoft after just 3 months in the role

Cult classic indie game Katana Zero has pulled a Hollow Knight Silksong, sort of - the long, long awaited Katana Zero DLC is now sequel-sized, according to the game's lead developer Justin Stander.

Katana Zero first became a huge success more than seven years ago, thanks to its gorgeous pixel art and lightning speed action that felt like a mix between Hotline Miami's heart-thumping brutality and Sekiro's sword slashing parries. A cryptic story and banger soundtrack didn't hurt, either.

After several years, the promised Katana Zero DLC is still nowhere to be seen, but fret not. Justin Stander recently took to social media to tell folks he's "still working hard" on the project. It's just taking longer than expected because the DLC keeps ballooning in size… I wonder where I've heard that one before?

"We made it bigger. It's the size of a full sequel, plus a soundtrack of over 30+ new songs," Stander tweets. "More updates to come. Thanks for your continued support!"

One small but notable difference between this and Hollow Knight Silksong (which also started out as a modest expansion before expanding wildly) is that, for now, the Katana Zero DLC is still DLC, not a standalone sequel. This is far from the first time the project's multiplied in scope, however.

In 2020, the indie dev said the Katana Zero DLC had grown to three times its original size. As of last year, it was "nearly" as big as the base game. Now? It sounds like it could be even bigger.

Still no release date yet for Katana Zero's continuation, but we did receive a short and gorgeous trailer last year.

Be sure to check out the upcoming indie games for 2026 and beyond

I'm more of a Midna stan, but there's no denying Navi from Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the series' most iconic ethereal companion, with her lovably nagging pleas to "hey, listen" still ringing through the Zelda pantheon after all these years. The original vision for the li'l fairy, however, was very different from the glowing orb with wings we know and love today, and it's only because of the technical limitations of the Nintendo 64 that she looks the way she does.

Nintendo veteran and Ocarina of Time designer Yoshiaki Koizumi revealed as much in an Iwata Asks Q&A from 2011, but with the upcoming remake renewing interest in the original game, the Kit & Krysta YouTube channel dug it up and it caught our attention here. I mean, can you imagine an Ocarina of Time where Link's companion is anything but a faceless glowing ball? According to Koizumi, Navi was originally supposed to be a human-like figure.

"Usually, if you were to make a fairy, you would make a cute girl, but that wasn't possible with the Nintendo 64 system, so I just made a ball of light with wings," Koizumi says.

This initial direction makes sense, since the previous, 2D games had shown fairies as girlish creatures in the style of Tinkerbell. I'm 100% guessing here, but it sounds like a human-like model would've been too much detail to cram into such a tiny character and still have animations and AI look half-decent.

Koizumi was a key architect behind Ocarina of Time's Z-targeting system, which uses Navi as a cursor instead of a traditional on-screen marker. In the same interview, he says Navi was born simply because he didn't want to use a generic marker.

"I was a designer, so I didn't want to use such a simple marker. I wanted to make something else, so I came up with a fairy. After all, it was The Legend of Zelda," he says.

It's both funny and disturbing to imagine Nintendo conjuring a more realistic female-presenting Navi for the Ocarina of Time remake, but thankfully pre-release footage has confirmed she's the same iridescent sphere as before but with fewer edges. Still, it's wild to think that almost certainly wouldn't be the case if the N64 had a few extra bits in its processor.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time on N64 actually had a jump button early in development, 29 years before Nintendo's remake added one

Ahead of GTA 6, Rockstar veteran Obbe Vermeij marked the 25-year anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 3 with a lengthy retrospective examining its difficult development.

GTA 3 was a pioneering open-world game and a landmark release for Rockstar, but in a recent Twitter post, Vermeij says, "For most of development, GTA 3 was in a sorry state."

Vermeij says "it crashed frequently, the frame rate was terrible and the map was full of holes. Only in the last six months did everything come together. For the longest time, it looked like the frame rate was going to be 20 fps. Only in the final months did we manage to hit 30."

This sort of late assembly is pretty common in game development, particularly among large teams who may have siloed disciplines handling projects of larger scope. In the messy intersection of art and technology, the heart of a game may be hard to see until it's relatively close to release. For example, Bethesda boss Todd Howard said in 2023 that it took seven years for Starfield to become something that's actually fun to play.

Vermeij notes that the beginning of GTA 3 was messy, too. Rockstar North, then operating as DMA Design, had just been snapped up by Take-Two Interactive, "and a satellite office had opened in Edinburgh. Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64 had been finished in 1998, but there was no new project lined up. Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut started working on GTA 3. Unprompted. Meanwhile, the original GTA 1 and GTA 2 team had started work on GTA 2.5, set in Miami. It was called 2.5 because it used the 2.5D (isometric) perspective."

What would have been GTA 2.5 was canned in 2000, that Dundee office closed, and GTA 3 was finally officially greenlit by Take-Two and Rockstar, Vermeij adds. "Everything was written from scratch," he explains. "Only two people worked on both GTA 2 and GTA 3, and no code or art from GTA 2 was reused."

"The way we worked was organic. People would come up with ideas for missions and we'd just try them. If they were fun, they were in. The story was secondary. In fact, the opening plot involving Catalina trying to kill Claude was added well into development."

Back when GTA teams were still pretty small (and downright tiny by today's standards), Vermeij says, "Working on GTA 3 was a lot of fun. Every day there was something new going in. A new mission, radio station, car, pedestrian, building or whatever. The game was growing at an incredible rate. Other than the multiplayer mode we did some work on, I can’t remember a lot of wastage."

Contrast this with GTA 6, which Rockstar admits stalled during development due to conflicting, evolving, or unclear creative visions. GTA 6 hasn't actually been in full production for all of the 13 years since GTA 5, but it did eat up incomparably more labor hours than Rockstar's original breakout hits. With its new development pipeline now stress-tested, studio leadership says future games won't be as difficult or time-consuming to make as GTA 6.

Vermeij also touches on the studio's reputation for crunch – something Rockstar leadership and staff have worked to tackle out in the open in recent years. At least on GTA 3, Vermeij says, "Although everybody worked hard, I don't remember many people doing crazy hours. On the rare occasions I was in over the weekend, there were usually only one or two others. Even during crunch time, most people left the office around 9 or 10 in the evening. I always thought it was better to work eight focused hours than spend your life in the office."

What did all that work get them? Pre-release anxiety. GTA wasn't always the unstoppable hit-maker it is today, and GTA 3 presented a major and risky shift in gameplay. "Although we liked the game," Vermeij says, "it wasn't at all clear that it would be a hit. GTA 3 had a disappointing showing at E3 in May 2001. Most people weren't interested, and those who were thought it was too violent. It had an OK launch, but sales never tapered off."

"The thing I remember most is the camaraderie," he concludes. "In a small team, everybody relies on each other and everybody has a lot of input. Most of us were young and had only recently moved to Edinburgh. We went to the pub together. It felt like a group of friends who happened to be working on a project together."

Nowadays, Rockstar has thousands of devs on its payroll, with a studio larger than post-DMA Rockstar North purely dedicated to NPCs in GTA 6. Edinburgh is gonna need a bigger pub.

Rockstar is "at least 10 years ahead" of other games with GTA 6's NPC crowd technology, says dev behind 007: First Light's incredible crowds

Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong, says he has several projects in the works.

It's hard to name anyone in the games industry who is more influential than Miyamoto. Mario being the face of the industry would have given him that honor, but he also created Zelda, Pikmin, Donkey Kong, Nintendogs… the list goes on. This has culminated in Miyamoto receiving the Japanese Order of Culture, awarded by the Japanese government. This makes him the first-ever game developer to receive the award, with previous winners including Physics Nobel Prize laureates, actors, musicians, and mathematicians.

Speaking to Denfaminicogamer (via machine translation), Miyamoto was asked if this award could be seen as a culmination of his 49-year career and a chance for him to ride off into the sunset. Miyamoto notes that he doesn't know how long he'll be able to keep working for, but is determined to enjoy it while it lasts and pursue what he wants to do in the meantime.

On top of that, Miyamoto assured that he's still working on several projects. And while he's worked on a ton over the last 49 years, I don't really think this means games. Yes, Miyamoto is one of the most iconic game designers of all time, but if you look at his role within Nintendo over the last several years, he's been involved in multimedia roles far more prominently.

Miyamoto has been at the forefront of the Super Nintendo World theme park expansions at Universal Studios, as well as being a producer on both Super Mario Bros. movies and the upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie. And given there are rumors about Donkey Kong, Luigi's Mansion, and Star Fox films in the works, I'd say these are far more likely to be what he is busy with for now… that and spreading the good word of Pikmin.

Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto says AI "provides an opportunity to reflect on what's really important" in game dev, "which I think is a positive thing"

Shigeru Miyamoto, mastermind of Nintendo and the creator of Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong, will receive one of Japan's most highly regarded cultural honors – and he's the first video game developer to do so, too.

The Order of Culture, established in 1937, is an award presented to men and women who have made substantial contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, and technology.

Notable recipients include everything from fashion designers to manga artists and biologists… and, yes, it's now going to Miyamoto. A new report from GameWatch (as translated by Automaton) confirms as much.

Miyamoto, who reportedly appeared "modest" during the announcement regarding the award, is "honored" to be receiving it, paying tribute to other devs he's worked alongside throughout his career at Nintendo – his 49-year career: "I am truly honored to receive such a prestigious award. As I have often said, these achievements were not the work of one person, but the result of collaboration with many others. I accept this honor on their behalf."

The Nintendo representative director and executive fellow will officially receive the award on Japan's Culture Day, November 3. He is one of eight recipients chosen by the Japanese government and, again, the first-ever game dev to be nominated for the Order of Culture.

It serves as a testament to the mark he and his franchises have made, from arcade machines in the 1980s to portable home consoles like the Switch 2 today.

Heck, it's ongoing. We've got The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake set to release on November 5 – a remake of the beloved 1998 gem that Miyamoto acted as both producer and supervisor on. There are countless projects he's influenced in one way or another that are still managing to pull millions of players worldwide.

This is one award I'd argue is very much deserved, and it's exciting to see it finally reach the games industry.

Shigeru Miyamoto dreams of Nintendo consoles becoming a rite of passage for everyone coming of age: "Which Nintendo would make you the happiest?"

The upcoming Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake sent shockwaves through the world when its trailer revealed the addition of a technological advancement straight from the arcade generation: a dedicated jump button. That's right, instead of just walking up to a ledge and trusting the honor system to prompt Link to automatically jump over to the appropriate platform, the Ocarina of Time remake will allow you to hit a specific button to jump. Technical achievement aside, it turns out this was actually a feature in the original N64 Ocarina of Time when it was early in development, but it was removed before release for whatever reason.

This was first revealed in an old Iwata Asks article from 2011 featuring a conversation between Nintendo veteran and Ocarina of Time designer Yoshiaki Koizumi and late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Resurfaced by the Kit & Krysta YouTube channel, the back-and-forth touches on how Mario and Zelda games back then used to be "made as a pair," and it's here that Koizumi reveals this little-known fact about Ocarina of Time's early development.

"I do think they are often made in pairs," Koizumi says. "They both fell into the category of '3D open-world action games.' I didn't really see the difference between them."

Iwata responds: "If you were to state the difference, it would be how The Legend of Zelda is the one you don't press a button to jump in."

Koizumi counters. "Even when it comes to that, you had to press a button to jump when we first started making The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," he says.

Finally, Iwata confirms, "at first, it didn't have autojump."

The exact reason for the switch to an auto-jump mechanic is never made explicitly clear, but Koizumi says the dev team was thinking about Ocarina of Time "the whole time" it was making Super Mario 64, which made them start "talking about decreasing the action element in The Legend of Zelda and increasing the puzzle elements."

My read on that is, during Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time's development, Nintendo felt like jumping better suited action gameplay and they wanted to tilt the balance a little more toward puzzle-solving, so they switched Link over to an auto-jump system to emphasize that side of things more. Clearly they've changed their minds in the intervening years, as, thank goodness, come November 5 you'll be able to jump to your heart's content in the remake.

Zelda Ocarina of Time remake has new sidequests, harder minigames, and subtle dungeon tweaks that suddenly have me a lot more interested.

In another totally jam-packed year of new video games, it feels like centuries since Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced released (it's really only been a few months), but completionists haven't stopped asking Ubisoft for a New Game Plus mode. Well, Ubisoft has rather casually confirmed the game's New Game Plus update is coming in an update "next week," silencing months of player requests in a 16-word tweet.

"Thank you everyone for your patience," reads a tweet from the official Assassin's Creed Twitter account, seemingly acknowledging the amount of time it's been since we've heard anything at all about Black Flag Resynced post-launch. "New Game+ is coming to Black Flag Resynced next week!"

I'll admit, even being the pirate game sicko I am and with Black Flag having been one of my most anticipated releases of the year, I fell off that game hard. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous remake that manages to do the unlikely and actually improve on the original game, which has always been a 10/10 release for me. It's just that, for me, a remake is always going to have a hard time competing against brand-new games, and there have been some incredible ones this year from my presumptive GOTY The Blood of Dawnwalker to the best new horror game I've played in ages, Resident Evil Requiem.

But that's by the by. It's unclear if the Black Flag Resynced update containing the New Game Plus mode will have anything else bundled in, as again it's been a while since the game got any new content at all, but it's at least confirmed that you'll have a whole new way to play through the main campaign again.

We'll also be keeping an eye out for an exact release date, as so far it's just "next week," but either way it's certain we'll know more soon.

Here's how we ranked the best Assassin's Creed games ever.

Redundancies and restructuring have become sad themes of the industry of late. Just this week, BioWare was closed by EA, amid Xbox laying off 3,200 jobs across the entire division. One place that seems safer is Rockstar, which is gearing up to release the mammoth GTA 6, and at least one ex-dev there believes it's in better shape than most.

"I never heard the question of, we need to see if we need to downsize, or if we can afford it. Rockstar can afford it," Jérémy Hartvick, an open-world designer on Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6 who left Rockstar in 2020, tells the Kiwi Talkz podcast.

"The question is whether you can meet the expectations, and if you don't, then you might not last," he explains. "But otherwise it's not a question of money."

I should hope so, considering the kind of money-spinners Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 have proven to be. Both have shifted copies non-stop since launch, the former literally charted in the top five digital games for the PS5 in Europe in September of this year.

That's without getting into GTA Online and Red Dead Online, each with large, dedicated communities who provide yet more revenue through glorious microtransactions. There's no shortage of money flowing through Rockstar. For his own exit, Hartvick points towards a personal situation that required him to be closer to home, since he's from continental Europe and was living in Scotland to work at Rockstar North's Edinburgh office, and the intense amount of labour.

"The quantity of work made it more difficult to be present there," he says about his family. While he helped launch Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 6 was still years away at that point - eight years, in hindsight - creating a situation where he wondered if he fancied that marathon, or something else.

It bears repeating, despite the job security through funding, Rockstar's currently in the middle of an employment tribunal after suddenly letting a number of staff go last year for allegedly spurious reasons. At the end of the day, it's still a corporation, just like EA, Activision, and any other major publisher.

GTA 6 could cost the US economy $1 billion due to an estimated 1.5 million workers calling in sick, economist says

Ubisoft continues to insist that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is real game that exists, despite the fact that it was announced more than 18 years ago and we haven't seen hide or hair of it this decade. A new report suggests that the reason it's taking so long is that the devs keep going back to the drawing board, most recently transitioning from a live-service Fortnite killer to a single-player first game.

That's according to French outlet Origami, which reports (via machine translation) that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was being developed as a "highly multiplayer and connected game" between 2019 and 2022, taking direct inspiration from Fortnite and Destiny. Players would create their own characters and take on activities that would be generated on the fly, with large group sessions that would be matchmade organically.

Over time, the plan shifted to something more "open-ended," to four-player team-based action and then to two-player co-op, the report continues. In its current form, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is apparently set to be a "solo-first" game with Marvel's Spider-Man-style combat and no mandatory internet requirements, but it still includes optional co-op.

But perhaps the most surprising detail in the report is that the game is apparently still in pre-production. This, the report claims, is part of a long-standing pattern in the project's development. Beyond Good & Evil 2 has apparently missed all of its internal creative milestones not because the devs are failing to make deadlines, but because the milestones themselves keep changing as the project continues to change shape. Never mind the finish line – the devs don't even really know what the starting line is meant to look like.

I can't help but think of what's now BioWare's final game amid all this. According to multiple reports, Dragon Age: The Veilguard bounced back and forth between being a live-service multiplayer title and a single-player RPG, and after years of development uncertainty it's no wonder the final product felt as uncertain and unfocused as it did.

Maybe Ubisoft's big restructure will be what Beyond Good & Evil 2 needs to finally see the light of day, since the new corporate organization is meant, in part, to offer a clearer creative vision for projects in development. But Skull & Bones offers the most recent example of Ubisoft finally pulling a game out of development hell and onto store shelves, and I think it's safe to say that's not the most thrilling precedent of success.

Here are all the upcoming Ubisoft games you need to know about.

Off the back of Insomniac's three Spider-Man games, the critical response to Marvel's Wolverine is decidedly mixed. That didn't stop people from picking up the mutant action game, however, as it topped the PlayStation 5 charts for September.

Sony's just released the top-selling digital games across the US, Canada and Europe on PlayStation systems for September. There are a few obvious pulls, such as the sports games FC 27 and the new NBA release, and Halloween: The Game, which came out just in time for the namesake holiday. Almost all of them have been trumped by Wolverine.

The X-Men's coolest character (don't at me) is comfortably atop the list for digital sales in the United States and Canada. It outdoes both FC 27 and NBA 2K27, an impressive feat given the gigantic install bases for those series.

In fourth, you have Michael Myers in Haddonfield for the asymmetrical multiplayer game Halloween, and The Blood of Dawnwalker, the new historical horror RPG from Rebel Wolves. Over on the European side of things, Wolvie is down to second, behind FC 27 - it's hard to top a major football game over this side of the pond. You've got the Premiership, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, and all the other big national leagues across the continent, each with a fervent fanbase.

The Blood of Dawnwalker and Halloween are in the next two spots, and then GTA 5 sits at fifth. The perennial. A truly unstoppable game since it first arrived back in 2013. At this rate, I'm not even sure GTA 6 will slow it down much. Yes, that's the newer, bigger, better game, but Grand Theft Auto 5 will be even cheaper, making it even more appealing to anyone who doesn't already have it.

Regardless, whatever you may think of Marvel's Wolverine, the game appears to have done fine business for all involved. Never count Logan out, even if his latest outing occasionally plays itself.

Marvel's Wolverine star Debra Wilson isn't sure why Insomniac used her likeness for Callisto: "I honestly love games where they don't look like me at all"

Grand Theft Auto is not a roleplaying game. Even with its sprawling open world and all the painstaking technical details that have gone into protagonists Lucia and Jason's story, GTA 6 will never be among those we call the best RPGs. Some systems in the latest entry might hew close, but the way Jason and Lucia evolve are closer to being a sim than an RPG proper. More than that, there's a fundamental difference between how Rockstar and developers like CD Projekt Red view their respective games.

After adding full mod support to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, the Polish developer surprised Cyberpunk 2077 fans by announcing a similar built-in client to the Night City adventure. Patch 2.5 comes with all the bells and whistles that speak to a truly flexible, personalized RPG experience – and it's the furthest thing away from what Rockstar has said about GTA 6 so far.

Yours, mine, ours

Patch 2.5, in its broadest strokes, is an RPG replayer's ultimate fantasy. Delivered in co-development with Virtuos Studios, the update brings new clothing items as well as long-awaited cyberware customization (courtesy of new NPC vendors called Glamdocs), and the opportunity to finally dual-wield any pistol or revolver combination.

There's also some "cozy" new missions to engage with as V learns more about the founding of Night City, and of course, plenty of connective tissue between the video game and Netflix's new season of spin-off anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Top it off with full mod support, and I can fully understand why CDPR skipped straight past a patch 2.4 update; This really is a two-in-one deal.

Speaking on the latest Redstreams, associate game director Pawel Sasko sounded incredibly enthusiastic about what this patch means for replayability. The team is fully supportive of fans getting creative to make their next playthrough more unique than ever. CDPR even welcomes story mods among the plethora of ways you can reshape the experience to suit your needs, something Rockstar has reiterated its vocal opposition to in its recent fair use reminder.

It's an outlier in that regard. A healthy modding community and a robust customization system are the hallmarks of almost every successful game or franchise of the last two decades. Cyberpunk 2077 (and The Witcher 3, by extension) is following the example set out by Skyrim, Baldur's Gate 3, Mass Effect, The Sims 4 (until recently), and countless others. It's a surefire way to keep players engaged and interested in a title long past its release year, offering countless ways to experience the same story through brand new eyes. But it seems that Rockstar thinks the Grand Theft Auto name is more than enough to justify bucking this particular trend.

Forgive the ice-cold take, but fostering a strong sense of community should be paramount to every game developer. When I see RPG developers like CDPR and Larian Studios going out of their way to not only engage with their communities but deliver long-awaited quality-of-life additions, it makes me look more critically at those who refuse to. Respect should go both ways. If Rockstar wants to keep its legions of loyal followers, why not adapt to their needs instead of give them a hiding before the game is even out?

Lone wolves

Then again, Rockstar is no stranger to doing things differently. Where some devs embrace the changing tides that dictate our ever-shortening attention spans, Rockstar can just buy the ocean from under Poseidon. After all, it ended up acquiring GTA Online mod developer FiveM, a team it once threatened with legal action, in order to at least profit off of its roleplaying servers.

This is a team that plays by very different rules, so if you're hoping that Rockstar might slacken its leash on modding once GTA 6 has been out for some time, I wouldn't hold my breath.

GTA 6 isn't an RPG, as any genre purist will rush to tell you. Neither in its format nor in the attitude with which it was created. Rockstar is selling a product, not a community – and that's fine by me. But, I wonder how many will agree when it's time for the next iteration of GTA Online to get the GTA 6 treatment.

While GTA 5's mode has always been an outlier, online communities in 2026 than they were in 2013. In the meantime, I'll take hot pink mantis blades, dual-wielding Jackie's golden pistols, and having cats in all of V's Night City apartments before Rockstar's precious new baby. Call me when Jason gets a gorilla arms mod (and don't tell Mommy on me).

Check out these games like GTA if you just can't wait for GTA 6!

Dreamcast is rarely thought of as the start of anything. It was the full stop on Sega's reign as a hardware company, the console that died as PlayStation 2 thrived. But it was also, Rockstar says, the birthplace of the era's defining PlayStation game. You know, the one your mum heard was about killing prostitutes: Grand Theft Auto 3.

The story goes like this: GTA's developer, DMA Design, had just opened a new office in Edinburgh after a decade in Dundee. Change crackled in the air. The '90s were ending, and all around DMA the game industry was transitioning to three dimensions. The young team behind an early 3D game named Body Harvest believed they were ready to do the same with GTA.

Yet the studio's old guard was unconvinced. The team had already experimented with tilting the camera a little in GTA 2, but weren't sure it was possible to go further. A simulated city, navigated at breakneck speeds in whatever direction the player chose? Surely not in 3D.

"We had a bit of pushback from them," recalls Rockstar North co-studio head and art director Aaron Garbut. "So we did a tech demo of a city environment on the Dreamcast with cars driving around and characters walking the streets. We got it working over a period of weeks to the point where you could steal a car and drive it about, then we got it in front of Sam."

Sam Houser was the executive producer of Take-Two's new publishing label in New York, which had rather audaciously named itself Rockstar Games. He'd been a backer of GTA since its earliest days, egging its team on as they embraced player criminality and transgression. Now he was more than keen for the series to take its next revolutionary step.

"Sam has always been the voice of the player," Garbut says. "He has always encouraged us to go further, to take risks, to make every game our best yet and never to settle. He has also given us the support, the room, and the flexibility we've needed over the years to get things where they need to be. He's still that person for the team now."

The GTA 3 team were galvanised by the Dreamcast demo, basic though it was. It became a source of inspiration and a focal point for their ambitions. "We knew what we were doing in 3D and were young, arrogant, and naïve enough to feel like it was easy and exciting," Garbut says. "We just knew how far we could take things. We could see the impact of an urban environment in 3D and were filled with ideas first and foremost about how we could bring it alive. That was our initial focus – building the toys and playset, making a world that functioned as well as we could make it, a living, breathing city."

From the previous games came the premise: the arresting idea of being an antihero, a criminal who worked for even worse criminals. GTA had always had multiple mission-givers, albeit at the other end of a phone. And its developers had already invented Wanted levels, not to mention their antidote, the Pay And Spray shop. The formula was there.

Electric dreams

But the GTA 3 team consciously rejected the arcade-like elements that had come before – in particular, the running point total for destruction that Garbut describes as "pinball scoring". In an immersive 3D world, those abstract touches no longer seemed to fit. Conversely, DMA leaned into the natural sense of cinema and emotional connection that came with a 3D camera. "We didn't really approach it like a sequel," Garbut says. "We weren't slavishly looking at how the earlier GTAs had done things. We worked in broad strokes and without referring too much to them."

Some of GTA 3's greatest development challenges were the fundamentals we take for granted in open worlds today. As Garbut points out, DMA didn't have any contemporaries working with densely populated urban environments.

"The density was the difference," he says. "There were simpler games – driving games set in urban worlds but without too much interaction – that were designed to traverse at speed." Though Garbut doesn't name any, 1999's Driver springs to mind.

"Then there were denser games like Zelda that did amazing things but spread it out or split it across empty spaces and denser dungeons," he continues. "We didn't split things into nice manageable, loadable chunks, we didn't spread it out with empty areas, we didn't design it to only work at speed or to explore in detail on foot in small areas. We were trying to offer it all in one experience, and to make it feel as alive as possible."

Chop shop

Players of the time were gobsmacked by the way GTA 3's world was constantly streamed into being, just outside their vision. Well, except for the rare occasions when a wall only appeared in time to tear the bonnet from their Banshee. It's a system that Garbut clearly remains deeply proud of, all these years later.

"The art team broke the world apart by hand in the best way to squeeze all we could into memory while getting it off the drive fast enough," he says. "The code team built an elegant streaming system and we got as granular as writing the files to the DVD in specific orders to keep areas of the world together physically on the disk. It's a testament to the talent and ingenuity of the team that we made this work."

The decision represented a huge risk, but in the end the results spoke for themselves – Liberty City rendered at great distances, across moody bays and packed urban thoroughfares, and did so seamlessly, without long loading screens. "Getting it right effectively removed a lot of limitations for scale and detail," Garbut says. "We could build what we wanted as long as the area around the player would fit in memory and we could get it off the DVD drive fast enough."

If GTA 3 was a living world, then DMA Design was the hospital crash team tasked with keeping it breathing, against the odds. "You have to ensure the system can cope with a random pileup round the corner exploding at the same time you are also trying to run an intense mission," Garbut says. "It's all about managing the chaos and the competing systems rather than just focussing on what you see. Keeping the world alive and allowing real interaction with it is one of the big challenges with open world games."

New car smell

The making of GTA 3 established the methodology that Rockstar North, as the developer is known now, still uses today. The studio always begins with the place and then, once it's fit to live in, moves up one layer to the toys. In GTA 3's case, the toys were the cars – the aspect of the game players would spend more time with than anything else.

"Seeing the world come alive through these vehicles, that's when I remember starting to feel things come together," Garbut says. "Every so often a build comes along with a feature you've been discussing or planning forever – it's normally rough and only there when you squint a bit. But it's there. Everything shifts, the world you had been working in changes and now this new thing has made it better or worse. On some projects at some points, it feels like that happens every day. GTA 3 could be like that."

With the addition of cars, GTA 3 changed overwhelmingly for the better. The team imbued their vehicles with physics that were both buoyant and dramatic, making even downtime in Liberty City gripping.

"This was a long time ago so seeing cars behave physically was not the norm," Garbut says. "I remember spending a good few hours skidding the car around and watching its suspension bounce on kerbs. Seeing that in our world, then seeing the variation in tuning with trucks, sports cars, and the like, it was inspiring. We had the toys we needed."

Garbut evidently adores the process of making games, and in particular these moments of punctuation that spark ever more extraordinary feats – the single flaming car which triggers a cascade of explosions that eventually ends in the downing of a police helicopter.

"The work of one team changes, motivates, and pushes the next team to take it and run with it," he says. "It's a lovely whirlwind of creativity."

For Garbut's art team, the sprawling 3D city was a canvas on which to paint their vision of New York. This city wasn't the real-life home of Rockstar's producers in the US, but a semi-fictional place pieced together from afar.

"At this point I'd only been there a couple of times," Garbut says. "There was no internet in the studio at first, there was no Google Maps. I just had a little box of 35mm photos a couple of us had taken on a trip there."

Old York

Instead, DMA's reference material came from old films and television. Liberty City mimicked not the glamour but the gloomy mundanity of urban life – soggy streets, grey concrete, dark water, and litter. It was an approach that played to the strengths of PS2's limited fidelity, capturing mood rather than detail.

"We wanted to lean into the grime, the rain, the weather," Garbut says. "We had also made a call to add a dynamic weather system and time of day, and this helped leverage that. It felt right for the kind of story we had, the kind of characters we had, and the way we felt New York had to be from growing up watching it on screen."

It seems very likely that the whole GTA series owes its cartoonish satire – the warped prism through which it has long viewed America – to this literal and critical distance. While success has brought LA and New York within easy reach of Rockstar North's developers, the studio has carefully cultivated its unique perspective in Edinburgh.

"Right from GTA 3 our focus was always on creating the impression of the place we were building over the reality," Garbut says. "Back then there was far less connection in the world digitally – the sheer volume of content and accessibility these days has blurred the line so much that I don't really feel like a cultural outsider in the same way any more, but what it did I think was force us to rely on the US we knew from television and film. It was more about an exaggerated impression, the feeling of the place. It gave us more choices and more control in some ways, and I think it served us well."

Rockstar's storytelling has come a long way since the release of GTA 3, to the point where writer Dan Houser's departure last year felt like a serious blow to the company. But even Liberty City's Scorsese-style drama, while broad and daft, served an important purpose.

"It's quite simple compared to how we work these days," Garbut says. "It's lacking any real refinement, but there's a charm to it and a consistency. I'm proud of what it did. It let us figure out a lot of things, it taught us what we could do better and with Vice City we were already on the path to do that. There were certain choices – a silent main character, for example – that we moved away from quickly, but we have always been good I think at re-evaluating and moving forward."

Concrete tower

The story of Claude and Catalina was a blueprint. So, Garbut says, was GTA 3 as a whole. There's little in GTA Online today that can't somehow be traced back to this strange, grey game. Its foundations were so firm, in fact, that its sequel was released to critical acclaim just one year later. You might argue that Vice City is the most successful reskin of all time, though that description does a disservice to the power with which Garbut's art team evoked the '80s, using pitch-perfect costumes and coloured lighting.

"We are building on the path we started on GTA 3," he says. "We are building on that game and evolving it every day, to this day. We carry all that experience and expertise, the stuff that is impossible to replicate that is down to working together forever, to knowing the people you work with and what they know, what each person brings and how to get the best from them."

Long before Rockstar North was a household name, Garbut went to art college. There he studied fine art, and learned that drawing, painting and sculpting was all about 'roughing it in' – getting the basic structure right so that the artist can refine over the top. He sees GTA 3 in those terms.

"The 'squint a bit and it looks kind of finished' sort of idea," he says. "It's how I've always approached both building our game worlds and the games themselves. GTA 3 was as resolved as we could make it at the time, but for today's standards it's simple and rough. Things have come so incredibly far, the detail and depth and sophistication, the interplay of the complex systems we build these days. Squint a bit, though, and it's still the foundation we have built on and I love it for that."

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far! Or, check out our best GTA games list for what to play while you wait!

In the wake of EA's closure of beloved RPG studio BioWare, two other EA studios are teaming up for an undisclosed project reported to be a revival of Star Wars: Battlefront 3.

It's been several years now since reports claimed Star Wars: Battlefront 3 had been shelved EA, but just this week rumors of a revival and team-up between Respawn and Dice surfaced. And now, those rumors are heavily substantiated as EA confirms it's "bringing together our Respawn and DICE studios to collaborate on a future project," and Variety reports that the game they're working on together is Star Wars: Battlefront 3.

Even as game devs mourn the sudden and unexpected death of BioWare, EA is already laying out its plans for some of its other studios and IP. In a joint memo sent to employees from EA execs Cam Weber and David Tinson, the company says it'll continue to "invest heavily" in Respawn's Apex Legends franchise over the next few years. It also says it's committed to delivering on Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, which it calls its "two huge launches coming up" in its action-adventure vertical.

No further details are being reported on the potential Star Wars: Battlefront 3 revival, but it's safe to assume it'll follow a similar format to the first two games in EA Dice's rebooted arcade-style shooter series, which is to say it'll probably be lots of fun to play alone and with friends and will likely offer very little depth in terms of mechanics, systems, and story.

Here are all of the upcoming Star Wars games we know about right now.

An economist reckons the long-awaited launch of GTA 6 could cost the US economy $1 billion due to an estimated 1.5 million workers taking the day off sick.

That comes from the International Business Times, which reports that an economics professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona offers a simple reason for his academic projection – notably not an official forecast. People need time to play Rockstar's long-awaited opus when it launches on November 19, and work is simply in the way. People have waited 13 years for GTA 6, so why waste time working when you can get stuck into it?

So what's behind the math? The short answer is that the average yearly output of a US worker is $70,000, so take that and the 1.5 million absences, and you get a short-term productive dip of around 2%.

Digging in further, the economics expert reckons that men aged 18 to 30 will make up the majority of workers pulling a sicky – and that the technology sector will be the hardest hit. Apparently, that part should come as little surprise, as it closely resembles the age and occupation of people who took time off to play GTA 5.

Furthermore, we can expect an impact on people who do turn up to work, as the need to talk about GTA 6 and stay up late to play it may reduce their performance.

Does any of this mean anything? Not really. The report goes on to say that even if this were to happen, the money lost from people not working will be made up by what Take-Two and Rockstar Games make from, you guessed it, releasing GTA 6.

Still, an amusing stat, and not one that various companies aren't seemingly ready for. We've now had a few cases of companies announcing they're shutting down when GTA 6 comes out because workers would likely call in sick anyway. Won't anyone think of the economy?

A fundamental Red Dead Redemption 2 system provided the basis for how GTA 6's NPCs work - but it was nearly cut because of an ambitious Rockstar studio head.

One of the most prominent members of the PS5 hacking scene claims to have created an exploit that'll work even on the latest 14.10 console firmware. With the release of GTA 6 looming and PS5 exploits coming out at a feverish pace, the question now is how long Sony and Rockstar will be able to prevent the long-awaited crime game from being pirated. It won't be possible with the current exploits, but given how quickly they're now coming, it feels almost inevitable.

Longtime PS5 hacker Gezine recently posted a clip on Twitter which demonstrates access to the console's debug menu on firmware version 14.10. The implication is that Gezine has discovered a new type of exploit that can jailbreak PS5s on current firmware, but the hacker has not released this method to the public.

Like other console makers, Sony typically requires players to install the latest firmware in order to be able to play new games. It's a key roadblock discouraging players from modding their consoles, since you need to keep updating to the latest firmware in order to play the latest releases, and that new system software will include back-end fixes correcting previously publicized jailbreak exploits.

We don't yet know what firmware the GTA 6 will require, but it's possible that it'll be 14.10 – which likely means that soon, it'll be possible to play GTA 6 and keep your jailbreak intact. It's also possible that another firmware version will be released before or alongside the game, but unless Sony is able to discover how this specific exploit was created, it'll likely remain in place until the jailbreak is released publicly.

While there are plenty of legitimate, legal reasons to jailbreak a game console – PS2 emulators with support for original discs are one notable example – the elephant in the room here, of course, is that many people want jailbroken PS5s that can play pirated copies of GTA 6. This, however, is the part that's not yet certain.

"Old way to dump executables does not seem to work at 14.xx," Gezine reports. In other words, there's no way to pirate games, GTA 6 or not, on the current firmware. Further piracy will likely require a new exploit for the console's hypervisor, a security measure which hackers have cracked in the past, but which has been secured as of the latest system software.

Sony is clearly keen to make sure these exploits stay under the radar and are quickly patched. HackerOne, a platform where companies can offer bounties to hackers reporting major security exploits to software companies, shows that PlayStation recently paid out a $50,000 bounty to a user who pointed out a major bug.

The nature of that bug has not yet been disclosed, but you can be sure that Sony will do everything it can to prevent anything from disrupting sales of GTA 6 next month. Even if that means offering mountains of cash to the hackers continuing to break the PS5 apart.

Unofficial PS5 pirate store with over 1,600 games taken down before being immediately replaced by a clone, with Pandora's box open following recent jailbreak.

You're probably aware by now that GTA 6 is indeed eligible for The Game Awards. Rockstar is getting the game out exactly one day before the deadline. It's safe to say the open-world crime adventure is a hefty favorite for several categories, but odds are against it beating Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's sweep from last year.

Sandfall's JRPG-inspired fantasy took home nine statues, across 13 nominations in total. Big numbers, and a benchmark most can only dream of. The new Grand Theft Auto can feasibly reach the same amount of nominations, making a tie possible, but I'll be honest - it's an uphill battle.

There are a bunch we can expect to see GTA 6 in. Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, sound, visuals, and performance are all fair game. Those account for seven categories.

Then there's Games for Impact, championing releases with clear, forward-thinking ideas at their core. In theory, GTA 6 can be part of that lineup. Best Action and Best Action-Adventure are both possible, but I'd expect one or the other. We'll probably see GTA 6 pull a Clair Obscur by getting one of these and Game of the Year.

Obviously, Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game are out. Clair Obscur may have managed to squeeze into these, but I think partnering with an entire city and its NBA team rules out Rockstar's sequel.

Out of all the other categories, that leaves Best Community Support, Innovation in Accessibility, and Players' Voice. It's difficult to say what Rockstar's odds are for any of them. The first depends on the post-launch community launch, the second is all about what's available in-game, and I can see players rallying for the third, if even just for the meme.

On supporting the playerbase, GTA 6 is up against Wardogs, Arc Raiders, and whatever other big live-service game you care to mention, and even Clair Obscur, because anything that's been updated regularly is possible. Baldur's Gate 3 took it last year, for instance.

I wouldn't count on GTA 6 tying Clair Obscur to be quite honest, but I wouldn't count out eating my lunch on that either. This is why I'm not a gambling man. Anyway, Silent Hill: Townfall for Game of the Year, just for the Scottish representation.

Not even Rockstar heads know everything that's in GTA 6 because devs will just add stuff – which is also how Red Dead Redemption 2 got its absurd horse testicle physics

Nintendo has revealed the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake file size, and it's mercifully not going to hog a ton of your storage space, even if it is bigger than Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Twitter user Genki_JPN posted a photo of the download card for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, which is now available in Japanese stores. While this doesn't reveal much beyond including some screenshots and artwork for the game, it does list the file size for the Switch 2 remake as 27GB.

For context, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 shipped on a 32MB cartridge, meaning the 2026 remake is over 800 times larger than the original version in 1998.

Obviously, we live in the era of 200GB Call of Duty downloads, and given that two parts of fellow 90's remake Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth are the biggest games on Switch 2 at 90.4GB and 91.5GB respectively, it's a reasonably low file size for the new Zelda remake, which is a welcome surprise.

What is shocking, though, is that at 27GB, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is now the biggest mainline Zelda game of the Switch era. Breath of the Wild Nintendo Switch 2 Edition was the previous record holder at 24GB, with Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 Edition at only 20GB, while the Link's Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom both land within the 5GB range. In fact, the only Zelda game that's larger overall is Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, at 43.5GB.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake borrows one of Breath of the Wild's most immersive features

GTA 6 features an advanced take on Red Dead Redemption 2's beloved NPC interaction system, though we might not have got it at all if one of Rockstar's leads hadn't changed their mind on sharing it with everyone else.

That comes from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who has posted a YouTube video after visiting Rockstar to see GTA 6. During that visit, Schreier mentions a conversation with Rockstar North boss Rob Nelson, in which he says that vice president of animation Mark Tennant came up with a prototype of Red Dead 2 Redemption 2's advanced NPC tech way back in 2014 or 2015.

The way it worked was simple – instead of pressing a button to point a gun at an NPC and have them react, you could press the same button to choose to greet or antagonize them.

While the idea is simple to explain, the execution is complex. As such, when Tennant showed the prototype to another technical lead at Rockstar, Phil Hooker, he didn't want the system shown to Nelson initially. As Schreier explains, Nelson is known as the guy who "wants to do the world" – even if it leads to a lot of extra work for the team.

Despite the concern, Nelson was eventually shown the prototype and was blown away. "This is incredible," Nelson reportedly said in reaction. "This will revolutionize the way our games and our worlds work."

Amusingly, it sounds like Hooker was proven right. Implementing the system did prove to be a lot of work for Rockstar, though you'd argue it was absolutely worth it. Not only is Red Dead Redemption 2's NPC system well-loved, but we're getting an evolved version of it in GTA 6.

We initially got an inkling that would be the case during a GTA 6 leak, though Rockstar's latest media rounds have further fleshed out the details.

"The NPC interaction system is one that is returning and evolved from Red Dead Redemption 2," Nelson confirmed to IGN. "In the past we’ve had systems where you can speak to NPCs. In RDR1 and GTA 5, there were basic systems for interacting, but the interactions were very simple.

"But with Red Dead Redemption 2, we were finally able to incorporate the ability to interact with NPCs as a more fleshed-out system. Traditionally, L2 was a binary action that immediately aimed your gun at someone or locked onto them for combat. But as the resolution has increased, the experiences we create have had to evolve alongside that – the fidelity of them, how you can exist in them, and what you can do in them."

While we need to wait and see what this means in full, the hint Nelson leaves us with comes down to the various ways NPCs can react to you in GTA 6's world. For example, it's normal for people to gather and chatter, though their behavior will influence how they feel about you eavesdropping. While some might be more inquisitive, others, to put it mildly, won't appreciate it at all.

"While we pushed this sort of interaction with NPCs as far as we could for Red Dead Redemption 2, with GTA 6 we are taking it much further," Nelson teases.

To think, this might be something we didn't get at all if someone at Rockstar had been put off by how much work it would entail.

Not even Rockstar heads know everything that's in GTA 6 because devs will just add stuff – which is also how Red Dead Redemption 2 got its absurd horse testicle physics.

Warner Bros.' nemesis system is easily the cleverest innovation from its Middle-earth open-world action adventure series, turning an otherwise fairly mindless orc slaughtering party into something much impactful and lifelike. And while Red Dead Redemption 2 certainly doesn't need to learn any lessons from Shadow of Mordor or Shadow of War, a new mod adds the nemesis system to Rockstar's open-world Western opus, and I have to say, it sounds like a wildly good time.

As showcased in a wonderful Rockstar-style trailer with narration from Sarah Kempton, the enRAGE mod (available via Nexus Mods) makes it so that "everyone you cross in the West can become your nemesis.

"Rob a man, beat him or insult him, and he may not forget. He gets a name, a temper, a life story and a grudge, and one day he comes looking for you," reads the mod's description.

For the uninitiated, in the Middle-earth games, the nemesis system organizes Sauron's army into a hierarchy where each soldier has their own name, rank, strengths and weaknesses, and even personality traits. Individual orcs can climb through the ranks by killing you, and they'll remember their fatal methods for your next encounters, bragging and mocking you for your previous failure. Likewise, they'll hold grudges against you if you fail to kill them, bearing battle-accurate scars and pursuing you with vigor. It's a lot more complex than just that, but that's the gist of it, and you can incorporate that same system in Red Dead Redemption 2 with this mod from nicklovin99.

"Every NPC gets a name, a temper and a mind shaped by a life lived before you rode in. They remember what you did and will cross your path again. Some will like you, some will fear you, some will want you dead. Outfits feud and go to war with or without you, changing the people you know," says the mod creator.

I have yet to test out this mod and thus can't vouch for it, but it is described as being in "early access" and prone to bugs, which the developer asks you to report so that one day this can be "a polished (native Red Dead) feeling mod." Still, even in its current state, it sounds incredibly ambitious.

"Greet a stranger and you learn his name. From then on he is a real person in the world: a temper (Hothead, Proud, Cold, Coward, Greedy, Loyal or Drifter), traits, quirks, a trade, a faith, a family and a life story dated back years before he met you. His temper decides how he fights, whether he backs down, whether he talks and whether he forgives. People you meet turn up again in the same towns with the same face and the same grudge."

According to the mod author, tensions can rise to the point of faction wars "with goals, front lines, roadblocks and battles you can hear in the distance. Kill a side's officers, burn its supplies or rob its treasury, and watch its war collapse."

My hat's off to mod writers with the know-how to weave such an incredibly complex system into an already intricate network of systems in a game as massive as Red Dead Redemption 2. I haven't seen enough to be satisfied that the whole thing is interwoven seamlessly, and it sounds like in its early access state it isn't all totally seamless, but my interest is piqued nonetheless.

Not even Rockstar heads know everything that's in GTA 6 because devs will just add stuff – which is also how Red Dead Redemption 2 got its absurd horse testicle physics

GTA 6 was made by an army of thousands of game developers who had to be coordinated by Rockstar Games, but some of the studio's best work is the result of individuals using the independence afforded to them to enact the kind of chaotic goodness that would make a tabletop dungeon master smirk. Case in point: horse scrotums in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The buried details of GTA 6's mammoth production line are examined in a new video from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who paused to share some information from a recent Rockstar visit that couldn't fit into a prior written report.

Rockstar North art director Aaron Garbut looks at the scope and granularity that Rockstar has to balance. "There's no one person that has this whole thing in their head," he says.

Schreier, seemingly sharing his own thoughts and no longer quoting Garbut, adds, "Grand Theft Auto 6 is a humongous game, like Rockstar's previous games, and I imagine that not even the top developers of this company know every single thing that's in the game."

This is important context because it directly connects to something that Garbut singles out: the kind of unhinged perfectionism and attention to detail that gets you video game horses with testicles that convincingly shrink based on the temperature.

Herein lies the thin but magical boundary between disorganized development and meaningful autonomy. It's not that the studio heads, discipline leads, direct reports, and overarching producers at Rockstar don't know what's in GTA 6, or that designers are regularly going rogue with no oversight. All of those roles exist precisely because no one person can know and be accountable for everything in this game. But under that structured network, there's still space for designers, artists, and others to have agency and make individual contributions in their corner.

"Garbut actually brought this up," Schreier says of the famous Red Dead 2 horses. "That was not something that was on some big list of features to make. It was not something that an art director told an artist. 'All right, we got to get those horse testicles in here. Better put in nights and weekends so you can get these horse testicles in here.' That was something that people or a person, on their own, autonomously, decided, 'I'm going to do this because I think it's a really cool detail and I have enough time to work on it.'"

Games like GTA 6 are partly the result of a lot of little things done well many times over within, and in service of, broader creative frameworks. Allowing space for surprises to manifest is how a lot of the magic happens in some of the most beloved games of all time, and this highlights one way that mismanaged or unhealthy development cycles actively hurt games (on top of, more importantly, people).

Great ideas that might've been found or implemented may never happen because people don't have the space, or the headspace, for them. If simply getting a game shipped is a buzzer-beating nightmare, refining and indulging in it gets that much harder. (Red Dead Redemption 2's development was notoriously filled with crunch periods, though some employees publicly pushed back on crunch accusations in 2018.)

We're still talking about the horses in Red Dead Redemption 2 because they reflect that game's extreme commitment to authenticity, zoology, and wonderfully unnecessary content. If those horse testicles were less realistic, nobody would care. But, demonstrably, the work of whoever is tragically not listed as Testicle Designer in the game's credits did improve the game and people's perception of it. Because after you find one of those little surprises, you start to look for more details, more fingerprints from individual developers making their mark despite being one of hundreds or thousands. The AAA games that actually justify their excess are full of stuff like this, and it sounds like GTA 6 will be too.

"For GTA to stay relevant it had to reinvent itself": Grand Theft Auto 4 got much darker because San Andreas took the "pop energy as far as it could go," says Rockstar's Dan Houser.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis' lead developers say that the moments that elicit the strongest emotional response in the original were non-negotiable to tamper with in the remake.

With Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the developers are going down the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy 7 school of remaking a game. Rather than a near-1:1 remake like Metal Gear Solid Delta or The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Legacy of Atlantis uses the setting and story of the 1996 classic and builds something unique from it. While this has garnered some criticism for adding modern AAA mechanics like crafting and skill trees, the developers believe they have gotten the important parts right.

"Imagine you just finished the first Tomb Raider, then you close your eyes and you imagine a playthrough in your head," Michał Kuk, creative director at Flying Wild Hog, tells Edge. "Your brain remembers the things that generated the most emotions for you." He explains, "These moments, locations, vistas, objects that stick in your memory, these are the things that have to be in the [remake] almost untouched."

As for what can be messed with, Jeff Adams, experience director at Crystal Dynamics, explains, "As we bring the level of realism up, there are some things from the original we struggle to justify."

He specifically points to "finding a med pack in a tomb that's been concealed for 10,000 years," as one of these points that don't really make sense in this game where you shoot dinosaurs with guns.

These are the best Tomb Raider games of all time.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is stealing a very neat feature that Nintendo previously implemented in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom: a no-UI mode. Pro and Master UI modes were available at the recent hands-on preview event, and a few creators managed to get footage of them in action.

There are three options to modify the in-game interface in the menu. Standard is what you've likely seen in pre-release footage and has readouts detailing health, magic, and your currently equipped item, alongside a minimap and relevant situational information. It's in line with the original game, and pretty much what you'd expect from any third-person action-adventure title released since the late '90s.

Pro mode disables pretty much all of it. The screen is completely stripped of informational readouts, including even the health meter. You'll still see notices for when the game's being saved, as demonstrated in this footage from Stephen Totilo, as well as occasional in-world dialog pop-ups. The one piece of gameplay interface that will remain onscreen is the Z-targeting indicator, showing when you've locked onto enemies.

Master mode, then, disables even the target reticule. You can still lock onto monsters, but now the only indication you've done so will be Navi hovering over the enemy in question. You can see this mode briefly demonstrated at the 9:18 mark in this video from Zeltik.

Over the years, 3D Zelda games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword became notorious for excessive handholding and incessant guidance on every detail. Nintendo finally loosened the reins on players during the Breath of the Wild era, and I'm glad to see some of that spirit returning in the Ocarina of Time remake.

Sure, the original game might've given us Navi, the poster child for annoying tutorialization, but there's hope that even she'll be a little less annoying this time around. Will wonders never cease?

Zelda Ocarina of Time remake has new sidequests, harder minigames, and subtle dungeon tweaks that suddenly have me a lot more interested.

Dan Houser – former writer and creative director of the Grand Theft Auto series – says GTA 4 was so tonally different from what came before because Rockstar Games felt that doing the same old thing risked obsolescence.

GTA was riding high going into the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, with the trilogy of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas all releasing to mass acclaim, selling millions, and becoming some of the most influential and beloved games of the era. San Andreas, in particular, felt like the natural culmination of the style established in GTA 3, so the idea of that continuing on more powerful hardware was certainly exciting. However, GTA 4 turned out to be a somber story, with a more realistic world and a far darker tone overall.

Speaking to IGN, Houser explains, "There was a belief that San Andreas had taken that kind of 'pop' energy as far as it could go." Given that San Andreas was so "massive" and "successful," Houser notes "that for GTA to stay relevant it had to reinvent itself."

While GTA 4 isn't quite as popular as the two games that surround it, Houser points out "it felt cohesive. The game, the art direction, the moody lighting, the nature of the missions, they all felt tonally consistent."

He notes that with the darker take on the series "we found a level of tonal consistency that we'd not had in the previous games," even if that could be seen as a risk given the success of the PS2 games.

Houser recalls that with Rockstar, "I think there was more [of] a perception that the risk was the opposite," he explains. "The risk was if you don't reinvent yourselves and don't do something new and fresh, you're going to become obsolete." GTA 5 then did become a bit more lighthearted and silly compared to 4 and proved to be a juggernaut both in sales and popularity, but Rockstar's more somber tone in hindsight feels somewhat like a precursor to the Red Dead Redemption games, so really I think both takes were for the best.

GTA: Vice City's writing was "awful," Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser says, but acting icon Ray Liotta "made it sound good"

With its exciting announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, Nintendo also unveiled a stunning 40th Anniversary Edition of its Switch 2 console themed around the beloved series – and it sold out as quickly as it went up.

As fans, it's likely that none of us were surprised to see it sell out so quickly, right? Heck, I secured mine only after sitting through a massive online queue, undergoing various website crashes, and refreshing at the speed of light – an experience I was more than prepared for.

It seems that Nintendo itself, however, wasn't. Bill van Zyll, vice president and general manager of Nintendo in Latin America, tells Coelho no Japão as much during an interview.

"Well, if we expected it, we wouldn't be in that situation, right? At least not to this extent," he admits, referencing how the Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2 sold out instantly.

"I will tell you that it's a global phenomenon. We have this issue absolutely everywhere. We apologize for that. That certainly is not the intent. We underestimated how well it would be received – and there's certainly some markets that stand out."

For example, the United States "did extremely well," according to the executive – but it's not alone, of course. "It's a global phenomenon where they're running out of product," he states once again. "The pre-sales are hitting their max, and certainly that's what happened to us in Brazil."

Nintendo is on it now that the company is aware. "We are working on replenishments of the special hardware and the software, but it'll take a little bit of time". Stress on that last bit, though. "Please be patient."

It's hard to be, I suppose, but it's even harder for me to imagine that Nintendo didn't expect the console's popularity. I'm reminded of the original Switch and its own Zelda-themed edition, which similarly flew off the shelf, so to speak. Same with the Animal Crossing: New Horizons one.

But still, "It caught us by surprise. We expected a positive response, but the magnitude… It's amazing."

Anything is possible, I guess. I'd suggest keeping an eye on retailers (and Nintendo's own store itself) over the lead up to the Ocarina of Time remake release on November 5 – and, of course, the special edition console's own October 29 launch.

Nintendo quietly drops new Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake trailers, casually giving us our first-ever look at Dark Link and more

Red Dead Redemption and Bully are some of Rockstar Games' most defining hits - outside of the juggernaut Grand Theft Auto series, of course - but those classics almost didn't happen, according to studio co-founder and former lead writer Dan Houser.

Speaking to IGN, the former Rockstar lead explains that all-new and original games have a much tougher time reaching the finish line than sequels.

"I think there were lots of moments where Red Dead nearly didn't happen. I think there were lots of moments when Bully nearly didn't happen, and lots of other moments when games that didn't happen could have," Houser says. "There are lots of happenstance moments, or one good build, or the game suddenly comes together, that save projects that are struggling."

Building any AAA game is a challenge in itself, but new franchises in particular "tend to struggle a lot, so it's almost more impressive when they get made than it is heartbreaking when they don't," Houser adds. 2010's Red Dead Redemption even faced a "lot of difficult periods" - though the cowboy classic made it through thanks to the "core people on the team [who] were really strong, held focus on what they were trying to do, and solved the problems."

Houser recalls that development on Red Dead Redemption was interesting because the team were discovering "what the problems were and figuring out solutions to slowly unpick what was interesting about an open-world cowboy game." In hindsight, what makes Red Dead interesting is "obvious," he says, "but in real-time you were left with nothing but holes you're slowly filling."

Rockstar's Bully never spawned a sequel, sadly. Though the same can't be said of the studio's western epic - Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best-selling games of all time. For now, the developer seems to be entirely focused on GTA 6.

Rockstar's figured out the perfect GTA 6 advertisement – a bunch of supercars from Vice City speeding along the streets of Miami

Video games set in a galaxy far, far away are arguably more interesting nowadays than they've been for years. But what's changed? Lucasfilm Games executive Douglas Reilly says the company is now less restrictive with the Star Wars franchise and teases more upcoming games that could surprise fans.

This year alone, we've received two pretty surprising Star Wars games. There's Star Wars: Zero Company, an excellent turn-based tactics game that force pushes the XCOM formula into an entirely different sci-fi world. Then there's Star Wars: Galactic Racer, an arcade racing game from some of the developers behind Burnout. Both courted rave reviews.

Speaking to The Game Business Show, Reilly says those collaborations came from being "more flexible about, like, who we're willing to take pitches from and good ideas can come from a lot of different places."

Disney infamously signed a 10-year deal with EA that granted the publisher exclusive rights to make Star Wars video games. That deal expired in 2023, leaving the door open for smaller studios.

"You don't have to necessarily be a top five publisher to make a great Star Wars game," Reilly adds. "We have a high quality bar and we want to make sure they're excellent experiences and that means typically you work with more experienced teams than, you know, new teams who have no track record of making great things."

From here, the exec says "we're exploring all kinds of things [with] large and small partners that I think are going to continue to surprise folks who are like, 'Oh, they're doing a thing with them. That might be interesting to see how that turns out.'"

Currently, we know EA's Respawn is in development on a third game in the Star Wars Jedi franchise. Quantic Dream is still apparently working on Star Wars Eclipse, though that project hit a big hurdle earlier this summer as developers planned to strike.

Upcoming Star Wars games: Every new Star Wars game announced so far

The developers behind Castlevania: Belmont's Curse know their characters are hot, they've seen your thirsty fan art, and they agree - there should be some kind of award honoring the sexiest dad in games.

When asked if he's seen the "horny" fan art that's already been inspired by their newest game - in an interview with Fall Damage - lead designer Sandro Bordier acknowledges that "it has started, it has started already - like, man, have we seen some things."

Developer Evil Empire isn't totally surprised by the lewd drawings people have already made because, well, the developers aren't blind to how their characters look.

"Yes, like we know some characters are hot. It's a choice, actually. Like it's a vibe. We're pretty proud of it. Honestly, like, we were super happy with all the fan reactions regarding the characters that were revealed. Like we really put a lot of love from the team to design them in a way that would please fans," Bordier adds.

The devs are supposedly "super happy" with the waves of horny fan art of and the general non-horny response to many of the game's characters. Reactions to returning face Trevor Belmont have been particularly heated, however.

"Like Trevor especially, we didn't realise that it would be so well received," marketing director Bérenger Dupre adds. "There should be a Game Awards for hot dads." It might be too late for Hades (from Hades) or Kranky Kong (from Donkey Kong) or Marcus Fenix (from Gears of War), but it's never too late to right a wrong.

"It's always fun to see the fan art because we know how important and dear these characters are to the fans. And we are trying to make some new, fresh stories with them, so it's always quite stressful, and for now the reception is very, very emotional," Dupre adds.

GamesRadar's Castlevania: Belmont's Curse review was almost as excited as some of those fan artists: "With enigmatic puzzles, gothic atmosphere, a dramatic anime-esque storyline, and well-paced action, this is a hugely compelling Metroidvania and a triumphant return for the iconic franchise."

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Metacritic score is only behind the beloved GBA trilogy, Dawn of Sorrow, and Symphony of the Night as the series' best

Rockstar Games' co-founder and former lead writer Dan Houser doesn't think his writing in GTA: Vice City was the best, but he reckons acting legend Ray Liotta is what really made the classic game's script shine.

Grand Theft Auto is no stranger to celebrity talent nowadays - just take a look at GTA 6's star-studded soundtrack - but Ray Liotta playing the main protagonist of GTA: Vice City was a big deal more than two decades ago.

In an interview with IGN, Houser was asked about what it was like working with the iconic Something Wild and Goodfellas actor, who gave a voice to Tommy Vercetti. "My writing's awful, and he [Ray Liotta] made it sound good [in Vice City]," Houser says.

"All good actors do that. The actor finds things that are not on the page. Acting is an unusual art form, but it is an art form. And when you see someone who's good at it, they're much better than someone who's just ok at it. When they're ok, they get what's in my head, on the character side. The best actors go a whole level above that, and he definitely did that," he adds.

Houser also describes how the seemingly random collaboration came about. Rockstar supposedly called Liotta's agent and offered "a chunk of money" for about four days worth of work. "We met him for dinner the night before and then did two days with them in New York," Houser explains. A couple of months later, Houser returned to LA closer to the game's full release to record more lines with him. "The first day he turned up and didn't seem into it, and the next day he came in and did about five hours and completely finished everything."

"He was fantastic at doing it," Houser continues. "I mean he brought a level of authenticity to Tommy that I think we'd have struggled with anyone else to find."

Rockstar wins without doing anything as Cyberleek retreats after meme coin crashes – GTA 6 leaker says "the leeks stop here" as if the game's not out in a month