Sony has dug up another plot in its expanding live-service graveyard, and is lowering the still-warm corpse of Haven Studios' Fairgames into the dirt. The shooter, which was revealed in 2023, has been canceled, though PlayStation says there will be no layoffs as a result of its decision to end the project.

"The studio will shift its focus to collaborating with other development teams across PlayStation Studios, while also exploring new creative opportunities," a PlayStation representative tells Bloomberg, who first reported the news.

Fairgames was revealed in a 2023 trailer which stylized the title as "Fairgame$." The trailer featured no in-game footage, but presented a stylish version of a Payday-style shooter focused on heists. But the game never materialized again. The last major news on the project came in 2025, when Haven Studios founder Jade Raymond – a veteran Ubisoft producer who'd worked on Assassins' Creed – left the company.

Bloomberg reports that Fairgames was ultimately canceled after a poor showing during a recent test session with thousands of players. "While the test demonstrated strong operational excellence, live ops readiness and community engagement, player feedback and retention results were mixed and fell short of the goals we had set," according to an internal memo.

PlayStation had apparently reworked the game multiple times since it was first revealed, and prior to the test had planned to showcase it again under a new title, according to the report.

While PlayStation once had extensive plans for live-service games, it's canceled so many of those projects that it's now difficult to keep track of them all. The death of Concord just two weeks after launch is perhaps the highest profile example, but that's just the most memorable corpse among an extensive trail of bodies.

A multiplayer God of War title from Bluepoint and a live-service game from Bend Studio were canceled in 2025. A multitude of unannounced projects were iced amid mass layoffs at PlayStation in 2024, including a Twisted Metal game and an original project from the publisher's now-defunct London studio. Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game died in 2023. Bungie has reportedly had numerous projects scrapped since it was acquired by Sony. PlayStation has even killed not just one, but two projects helmed by Call of Duty veteran Jason Blundell.

Sony's biggest live-service hit in recent years is certainly Helldivers 2, but it's struggled to replicate that success – heck, it's struggled to release other online games at any scale. The publisher's annual MLB The Show series remains a staple among baseball fans, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls seems to have found a niche among fighting game aficionados, and Marathon is continuing to survive, but these aren't the Fortnite-level hits Sony is clearly gunning for. I guess we'll never know whether Fairgames could've been a hit.

Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch reportedly hit with layoffs, despite selling millions and "significantly" contributing to Sony's financials

PlayStation's once ambitious plans for PC seem to have softened considerably in recent months with reports suggesting Sony is moving away from porting first-party games to PC as it has done with The Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, and more. In another shift toward console exclusivity, Sony Interactive Entertainment is now pulling the PlayStation Plus app from PC due to a low user rate. The app will no longer be available to PlayStation Plus users on PC starting December 10.

"PlayStation believes in providing high-quality experiences to our players, and we regularly review offerings to ensure we are focusing on experiences our members value most," SIE senior director of content acquisitions and operations Adam Michel says at the bottom of a PlayStation Blog announcing the latest PS Plus additions. Michel says "a very small number of eligible PlayStation Plus Premium members (less than 0.4%)" are using the PC app. "Making this change allows us to focus on enhancing high-quality experiences that more of our members want to use."

Back in May, Bloomberg reported that PlayStation's studio business group CEO Hermen Hulst had informed staff that Sony's big-budget story-driven games would no longer come to PC and instead be PlayStation console exclusives going forward. And in September, former SIE worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida suggested Sony could be reverting to its "older ways" of focusing on the "platform business" instead of trying to get its first-party games into as many hands as possible.

Sony itself has yet to publicly acknowledge its apparent trend away from the PC side of its games business, but just looking at how much PC ports of PlayStation games have slowed down in recent months and years, it does seem clear there's been something of a shift in focus. What that means for the next generation of PlayStation games and consoles is unclear, but another one of the company's former leaders thinks "true innovation" means a $300 PS6.

Why is PC gaming outpacing consoles? "PC players have a bit more choice," analyst says, and PC has "really strong momentum" as PlayStation and Xbox struggle

Choice, an Australian consumer rights organization, has named Sony Interactive Entertainment as one of its annual "hall of shame" award winners. Alongside a vocal group of gamers, Choice is calling out PlayStation for failing to give players ownership rights to digital games, a problem that will be much worse with the impending end of physical games on the platform.

PlayStation wins "the Shonky Award for asking us to pay to play, but not own," Choice says in its write-up. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment, the organization argues, "you don’t actually own the movies and games that you buy as a digital download instead of a disc. Instead, you’re buying a license to access the content via Sony’s various digital storefronts, such as the PlayStation Store."

In effect, PlayStation is offering nothing more than long-term rentals for digital games, since it can simply revoke those licenses at any time. That fear will be intimately familiar to players who've been following campaigns like Stop Killing Games, and it's not an arbitrary concern – after all, as Choice notes, Sony did just delist several hundred digital films, revoking digital purchases with no refunds as they did so.

"You can't protect your licensed media based on the current EULA, and there won’t be any alternatives once the discs go away," Choice concludes. "You'll own nothing."

That lack of ownership may be a feature, not a bug, of PlayStation's planned end of physical media. The company still makes significant money on physical releases of its biggest games, but analysts argue that it's more interested in "control" of the market. No discs means no used games, which means Sony can take a cut of every transaction and set prices – alongside third-party publishers – without worrying about competition from secondhand markets.

Choice's Shonky Awards have been ongoing since 2006, and have sporadically included gaming companies in the annual hall of shame. In 2023, it named and shamed the Xbox Mini Fridge for failing to actually cool anything while drawing more power than a full-sized fridge. In 2013, when EA's always-online SimCity reboot launched to global server issues, Choice called out a problem particular to Australian players: the support line charged $2.48 per minute, "making people pay to complain."

"There is no game preservation with DRM": Why GOG's leaders have spent 18 years fighting for classic games

God of War Ragnarok attracted accolades like magnets in 2022 even though it lost the main Game of the Year title to Elden Ring, and now here we are four years later handing the game yet another achievement. According to a prominent industry market analyst, God of War Ragnarok is the top-grossing first-party PlayStation game of this console generation.

Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, took to Twitter to share some new data about God of War Ragnarok's lifetime sales. According to that data, the game has sold 21.6 million copies across PlayStation and Steam, with Steam sales accounting for just 1.6 million of those copies sold. That amounts to $1.4 billion in gross revenue, catapulting it to the top of PlayStation's slate of first-party games for this generation.

As if reading your thoughts, Elliott knows you're wondering how God of War Ragnarok beats out a juggernaut like Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which obviously has massive crossover potential with one of the biggest fandoms in film, TV, and comics. Elliott notes that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is a PS5 console exclusive, meaning it's not available on PS4 like God of War Ragnarok. That lowers its install base hugely. Also, God of War Ragnarok came out about a year before Marvel's Spider-Man 2, giving it more time to accumulate those sales. Still, God of War Ragnarok wears the PlayStation crown this generation.

"It's another PlayStation evergreen seller, too," Elliott says. "This year, Ragnarok has already sold 1.1M copies, generating nearly $60M (68% on PlayStation), outperforming new 2026 titles like Gears of War E-Day and Saros."

"Overall, Ragnarok has been accessed by 6.7M PlayStation Plus players (it was added to the Extra tier about two years ago). So it's performed that well this year DESPITE subscription cannibalisation. That's the pull of God of War IP."

Speaking of the God of War IP, there's a TV adaptation in the works at Prime Video starring Dave Bautista, and although there's no release date just yet, Elliott predicts the series "is going to be massive - bigger than Fallout, I reckon."

Naturally, achieving that sales milestone puts a lot of pressure on Sony Santa Monica to really deliver with God of War Laufey, the next game in its Norse series of God of War games. Notably, God of War Laufey marks a major departure for the series by switching playable characters from Kratos and Atreus to Laufey, Kratos's late wife and Atreus's mother. Having died just before the events of 2018's God of War, Laufey is forced to navigate a world inhabited by fallen gods, which is about as chaotic and violent as you'd expect.

God of War Laufey is releasing May 20, 2027 after a recent delay.

God of War Laufey is exactly how I want the series' combat to evolve, from the return of aerial combos to hitting dudes so hard their souls fly out.

Marvel's Wolverine has had a shaky debut, to say the least, having already stood as Insomniac's worst-reviewed game in years on Metacritic in September – so it's not all that surprising that it isn't selling too well, either.

Or, at least, not as well as other Marvel superhero games. New financial results from Sony prove as much, showing that the Wolverine-inspired title has sold just 2.4 million copies in the few months since its release.

That might sound like a solid number right off the bat, but it's not all that great when you compare it to, for example, Marvel's Spider-Man, which mustered up more sales in far fewer days.

A quick look at our trusty ol' PlayStation 2018 Year in Review highlights how the older game saw a whopping 3.3 million sales in just three days. And, as a post over on X points out, this number rose quickly to nine million copies within the first 90 days – so, the same time that we've now seen between Marvel's Wolverine launching and its newly reported 2.4 million figure.

In other words, from a sales point of view, it's alright but not great.

Our own Marvel's Wolverine review outlines why the game "lacks the depth, nuance, and variety you'd expect" of an Insomniac title, with an overly messy story, boring combat, and "inconsistent features."

Others have evidently felt the same, actually prompting the developers to respond to all of the negative feedback shortly after release. Folks complained about everything from how the game "plays itself" to its janky physics.

Interestingly, however, it hasn't all been doom and gloom. Marvel's Wolverine actually beat NBA 2K27 as a PlayStation 5 top-seller in the US and Europe despite the mixed reviews – but it's clear that's not enough to boost it too high re: overall sales.

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"

26 people at Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch have been laid off, according to a new report. Sony had previously spoken in glowing terms of Yotei's financial success, and the developers had just launched a major new expansion in Echoes of Sekigahara a few weeks ago.

"After carefully observing the challenges in the market and reviewing the team needs for our next project, we've decided to make some staffing reductions," Sucker Punch leadership says in an email to staff published by Aftermath, which first reported the news. "Several positions across Sucker Punch will be eliminated as a result."

The email insists that studio leaders "did not make this decision lightly" and "have given this a lot of attention and worked to support our affected colleagues during this transition as well as we can." Employees will apparently be given "more details about the future" next week.

Ghost of Yotei sold 3.3 million copies within its first month, performing better than Ghost of Tsushima did in the same period. Sony was keen to brag about how the game "significantly contributed" to its financial results in the period. Sucker Punch even managed to make the game for a much cheaper price than many of PlayStation's other massive PS5 games.

But we've seen again and again how little a game's success has to do with the fortunes of the developers who made it, despite how billionaire publisher bosses might suggest otherwise. Xbox offered a stunning example with Hi-Fi Rush in 2023, which the company described as a success "in all key measurements" and shut down the studio that made it a year later.

The Hi-Fi Rush devs would eventually get a second chance, and it doesn't sound like Sucker Punch as a whole is going anywhere. But if critical acclaim and financial success aren't enough to keep the Sonys and Microsofts of the world from laying off their developers, it's tough to imagine what criteria devs can now look toward for success.

PlayStation creator says games have stagnated, urges developers not to lose their "curiosity" as the industry reaches a major turning point ahead of the "next stage."

Destiny 2 and Star Wars Jedi star Debra Wilson says she prefers playing characters who aren't modeled after her, and questioned why Marvel's Wolverine developer, Insomniac, made Callisto use her likeness.

Despite a film and TV career dating back to 1992, Debra Wilson has become one of the most prolific video game actors of all time in the last decade. While she did have roles in the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Halo 3, Wilson has been in a huge number of games as of late – 10 in 2019 alone and a further 27 games since 2023 – including major roles in Death Stranding 2 and most recently Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve.

Speaking on a June 2026 episode of Hyperfixated with Joseph Shepherd (which has since resurfaced on social media), Wilson was asked by the host why so many characters she plays feature her likeness.

She explains: "The game designers do that. I don't do that," recalling that this was the case with Star Wars Jedi's Cere Junda, Marvel's Wolverine's Callisto, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's Amanda Waller – the latter of which she notes, "I am so grateful that I've played Amanda Waller from the Suicide Squad in three different iterations and only one of them looked like me."

Wilson adds, "I honestly love games where they don't look like me at all," and asks, "If it just looks like me, then how do you get a chance to really escape into a character?" For her recent role in Marvel's Wolverine, Wilson notes that Callisto "is a known character in the world of X-Men" and thinks, "Why make it look like me when there are so many iterations?"

Wilson also notes that she's been cast as "European character with foreign accents," saying "I love doing those characters." She adds that when she returns to do pickup lines "I go back in to do that to look at them and see me, and not see me," explaining "I look at it, and again, feel me in that: I am in there like I'm really in there."

I realize the irony of saying this as a Hideo Kojima fan – with Death Stranding filled with actors' likenesses, including Wilson – but I totally agree. I think there is an element of bespoke character design that is lost when something like Marvel's Wolverine uses Troy Baker's face for Mister Sinister, and it almost feels like the AAA game trend of trying to be films, when some of the most iconic game characters of all time look nothing like their actors at all.

Sony is still selling tons of the discs it plans to kill off: Marvel's Wolverine launch sales were reportedly 35% physical, showing a huge appetite for a non-digital future

Although Bloodborne isn't officially available on PC – and at this point, might never be – a good few fans have worked to port it over themselves… including those behind The Hunter's Dream, a multiplayer emulation that might not be as ambitious as it seems.

The PlayStation 5 is seeing various emulation projects take off, finally allowing PC players access to Sony exclusives – but Bloodborne's own The Hunter's Dream might not really be that.

As per its official website and posts over on Twitter, it supposedly supports quite a lot, from multiplayer to keyboard and mouse controls and much, much more. Heck, it apparently works on both Windows and Linux (Steam Deck included), with all bells and whistles included.

While it sounds impressive on paper, there's a chance – like, 100% – that the Bloodborne port was made using generative AI… and, a whole lot of it, too.

We're living in the (unfortunate) era of AI-powered crossovers and such, so it's not all that surprising, but still. If you take a look at the creator's GitHub page, you'll see that Claude, as in the AI bot, is credited as one of the "people" who worked on pretty much every single aspect of the project.

It's understandable, then, that many comments on the social media post unveiling the project aren't exactly positive. "It's not really a native port btw," reads one. "AI just slopped stuff from the emulator." Another declares, "NOT PLAYING THIS AI SLOP I WILL JUST USE THE EMULATOR MADE BY HUMANS!"

Further down, the sentiment remains the same, with folks warning The Hunter's Dream stems from "fucking Claude."

There's also the fact that, as one person points out, "you still fucking need the original copy of Bloodborne and an e-boot from your PS4" – but that makes sense as it'd be *cough* illegal *cough* otherwise (not that it's totally clean now by any means, for what it's worth).

All in all, I'd personally advise perhaps giving this one a miss, but if you're hoping for something more official, I'm sadly not sure it'll ever happen.

Heck, even former PlayStation chief Shuhei Yoshida doesn't know why Bloodborne hasn't been remastered or released on PC, having called it "a complete mystery" – and that checks out. I'll forever look forward to one myself, but… I wouldn't hold my breath.

Bloodborne movie producer Jacksepticeye admits "80% of the responses were critical" of his involvement, as he reassures fans he's "trying to honor the universe."

In January of 2028, Sony will end production of physical discs for PlayStation systems. Though the choice hasn't been popular, the corporation has stuck to its guns.

Nonetheless, figures for Marvel's Wolverine suggest a substantial amount of the audience for that game picked it up physically, making the decision seem even more retrograde.

Numbers from Ampere Analysis (courtesy of The Game Business) for the month of September have Wolverine at second for overall sales on PS5. That's not surprising, since it's one of the biggest first-party releases of the year, and a highly-anticipated one at.

But what's interesting is that, of the 2.16 million copies that were sold, some 35% were boxed. That's a lot of physical copies of a game, in a market that's become increasingly digital. It's closer to half than I would've initially guessed.

Wolverine isn't the only one touting such sales either. Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker are both around the same, 30% and 36% physical, respectively, for the same month. Silent Hill: Townfall sold 45% in physical copies on PS5.

Clearly, people are still buying discs, and in considerable numbers. "People have a need to collect. That's where physical sales are still incredibly relevant for the consumer market," as Joost van Druenen, analyst and NYU adjunct lecturer on the games industry, tells The Game Business.

"The industry is ready to move on, but not so fast. This is increasingly a big part of it."

There's an argument some of those players are probably emboldened to invest in circular pieces of plastic because of Sony's choices, but I don't believe such a surge would stretch to a third of copies sold across multiple big releases.

To me, this suggests the physical market is healthier than you might think.

It's definitely got more life in it than the 82% figure Sony's thrown around for how much of its business stems from digital sales. These are all games available digitally, and yet people who wanted to play them made a choice. And that's despite Wolverine suffering middling reviews.

Lots of us have been left disappointed by Sony pivoting away from disc production, and we drive more sales than the corporation might have you believe off hand. Physical forever.

After Zelda: Ocarina of Time, "Nintendo should be even more focused on remakes" to avoid PS5-like game droughts, ex-marketing leads say: "You'll be Sony, you'll have a problem"

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says too many developers are too focused on trying to make a hit game, as opposed to chasing the ideas they care about.

I don't think it's a particularly original take to say AAA games have gotten a bit safe in recent years. As budgets balloon, we're seeing games follow the same formulas of proven success, while the 'out there' experiences are typically relegated to indie developers. It's how we get the yellow paint, most PlayStation Studios games being a third person cinematic focused adventure game, and every Ubisoft open world feeling the same.

And at the same time, companies are chasing the Fortnite money at every waking moment, resulting in failed live service game after failed live service game because nobody has the time to play five of them at once.

Speaking to The Expansion Pass (below), former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America Layden says that Rockstar and Take-Two "know what they're doing [and] they're fine. But other places…"

Layden hesitates to say "pander" as it's perhaps "too harsh of a term," but he believes that a lot of developers are just "trying to build the thing that they think is just going to hit" as opposed to building "the game that someone in there just has bursting out of their brain" with a feeling of "'I need to build this game or I can't sleep at night.'"

Granted, I get what Layden is saying, and generally agree with it. But the reality is not quite as simple as that. I'm sure there are hundreds of developers dying to create the idea "bursting out of their brain," but getting a publisher to greenlight a risk in this day and age is a whole other kettle of fish. The host points out that Xbox has shuttered or divested from studios who were making their own creative visions, like Double Fine and Compulsion Games

Layden notes, "I do feel that artistic vision still requires guidance." He refers to titles with "strictly artistic vision with no guard rails," saying he won't name specific games, but "you know the ones I'm talking about, which just kind of came out to the market and you go, 'what were they thinking when they built that thing?'" He reiterates, "You still need to have guardians in the room."

Unfortunately though, it doesn't feel likely that many places – outside of the likes of Capcom and Nintendo – are too keen on even trying with those guided projects, either. Especially not when millions that could fund an entire game budget is being wasted on the likes of CEO bonuses.

PlayStation creator says games have stagnated, urges developers not to lose their "curiosity" as the industry reaches a major turning point ahead of the "next stage."

Making AAA games is only getting more expensive, particularly in North America, where many of the industry's most prestigious studios are based. With so many companies pouring their big budget development resources into live-service games that can generate infinite profits, how are studios like Naughty Dog allowed to continue investing years into one-and-done single-player games? Probably because Sony needs those games to keep selling PS5s.

"My understanding is really that Naughty Dog exists to sell Sony hardware," Matt Radford, a former VFX artist on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, says in an interview with Kiwi Talkz. "The reason Naughty Dog is so wonderful is that they aren't as profit-driven as other companies, because they exist to be a flagship to sell the hardware. Sony makes their money on the hardware, and I think it's working."

If you've ever wondered why first-party games from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo tend to look better and offer more polish than third-party titles, this is at least part of the reason why.

Exclusive, first-party games help make a console more attractive to prospective buyers. You can't get a platformer as good as Mario on an Xbox. You can't get a shooter as good as Halo on PlayStation. And you can't get a narrative action game as good as Uncharted on Nintendo.

At least, that was always the theory. If developers were most interested in selling copies of their games, they'd sell more copies by default by releasing those titles across multiple platforms – just as Microsoft has now begun to do (Halo is now on PlayStation). But for Sony, a core part of the value of a PlayStation console is that it's the only place you can get games like God of War, The Last of Us, or Spider-Man. And with those releases getting even fewer and further between, each one better be good.

"I just hope it gets to keep happening, because the real beauty in this is that this even exists," Radford continues. "One day maybe there won't be the ability to spend $600 million or some astronomical figure to make a really cool action game with a good story. Friends of mine talk, and we're often like – insert your Naughty Dog game, Uncharted 4, Last of Us 2, whatever. Is that the best video game that'll ever be made?"

Radford points to the examples of ancient cathedrals and other "architectural marvels" around the world, all of which exist as evidence of a very particular time and place where artists and craftspeople had developed very particular skills and were afforded the opportunity to use them in creating works that have withstood centuries.

You can decide for yourself how The Last of Us compares to the Sistine Chapel, but the point is that the great works of architecture will never be made again "because the talent doesn't even exist," Radford says. "The people have moved on, the process, the expertise. We have better ways of making a building now, and yet none of the buildings look like some of those old architectural marvels."

Radford wonders "if games will be that way as well. Like we'll look back at a game like Intergalactic, at a game like Uncharted 4 or Last of Us 2 and see the amount of acting by people, by humans. The acting and writing, modeling, sculpting, painting, you know, and we'll marvel at it like, 'Wow, can you believe that was all done by hand?' Like a guy painting the top of that church."

Sony says AI is "exciting," great for "synthetic assets," and an "important foundational technology supporting our strategy."

Shawn Layden joined Sony in 1987, eventually taking on leadership roles at the company's burgeoning video game development studios that led to him becoming chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, a position he retired from in 2019. He knows what it's taken to build the PlayStation brand, and his feelings about the company's decision to end physical discs hold more weight than most.

Layden understands the convenience of digital games, as he explains in an interview for The Expansion Pass podcast. But if a rough estimate suggests that 80% of people download games and 20% buy them physically, then Layden says "that's a super important 20%." These are the most "faithful of the faithful" players, who'll show up to buy multiple copies of an individual game to keep in their collection.

For that reason, Layden says, "I don't agree with that decision." He caveats all this with the acknowledgement that he has no idea what the situation looks like on PlayStation's spreadsheets, or the specific financial realities that led Sony down this path.

"But at the same time – I think this is probably the more insidious aspect to it – it changes the conversation from 'do you own a game?' Or 'do you have access to a digital asset?'" Layden says.

"If you can't sell a thing, that means you don't own a thing. And if you don't own it, then what are you buying? If you're buying access, that doesn't quite sound as sexy, to be honest. And people, as people tend to do in their mind, they'll game out the worst-case scenario. That's a whole lot of brand hit and reputation bite that, as I said, I don't have any visibility on the financials around it, but that's a significant brand hit and I hope it made sense to them."

While I'm one of those gamers who does love collecting for collecting's sake, the issue of game ownership has always been my biggest concern about PlayStation's impending all-digital stance. Market experts have noted that a substantial portion of Sony's biggest games continue to make dump trucks of money on disc, but the company is apparently more concerned about control of the market than the physical-first audience.

Layden has expressed his skepticism about PlayStation going discless in the past, noting that "the market has said they will continue to buy them," and suggesting that it could "heavily influence" Xbox and Nintendo's approach to physical games in the future. Either way, Sony's gonna have a rough time selling a PS6 for $1,000 if the next-gen can only offer modest improvements in its discless future.

PlayStation is "hearing the feedback from customers" on discs, says JRPG boss whose business is built on physical games.

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Xbox's current issues have mostly been down to the publisher's inability to pick a lane and stay in it.

Whether you're an Xbox diehard or not, there's no denying that Microsoft has been pretty confusing over the last few years, with the company seemingly changing its strategy on a whim constantly – which really hasn't helped it catch up on PlayStation's massive lead. Most prominently has been the company's approach to game exclusivity since it purchased Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, where for a bit there every Xbox game was also coming to PS5, and then sometime this year it decided, 'actually, no we're doing exclusives again'… at least for some games.

Speaking to The Expansion Pass (below), Layden – the former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment America – notes, "I think Microsoft never really picked a lane. Or if they picked a lane, they didn't stay in it very long." He notes the aforementioned flip flopping between being a publisher on all platforms vs wanting to be an exclusive platform, saying, "a platform needs exclusives or the platform has no meaning," but "if you're the biggest publisher in the world, you almost have to be on every platform, because that's how the business model works. You can't be successful at both."

There's also the Xbox Game Pass issue, wherein Microsoft is inherently devaluing its big titles by offering them as part of a subscription service on day one. Layden says, "If you're going to do that, then are you expecting people are going to buy content if they can get it on a subscription service".

He notes "the math doesn't" work with trying to be everything at once with Game Pass, adding, "if you're sitting on a big bunch of Microsoft money perhaps you don't feel that tension until, you know, slowly slowly slowly and then all at once where it becomes very hard to ignore. And I think they've got themselves in a pickle, to be honest."

Layden says new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma "is doing her best to try to right the ship", adding, "I hope she does it. Though I don't know what that looks like."

PlayStation creator says games have stagnated, urges developers not to lose their "curiosity" as the industry reaches a major turning point ahead of the "next stage."

For almost two years, I've watched various friends, family members, and co-workers adopt the PS5 Pro, and I've largely been managing my jealousy with one notable exception: PSSR. The PS5 Pro's AI-powered upscaling tech is genuinely next-gen stuff, and makes games that already look exceptional on the base PS5 appear noticeably sharper and more detailed. It's not so impressive that I want to spend $900 to upgrade to the PS5 Pro, but it's enough to make my six-year-old PS5 look even dustier than it really is, and let me tell you folks, it's pretty dusty up in there.

Anyway, my face turned an ever-so-slightly milder shade of green today when Sony announced that "AI upscaling is coming to PS5." At first, I thought, the PS5 console family already has AI upscaling, it's just limited to the PS5 Pro, but no, Sony is bringing the tech to the base, vanilla PS5. It's not PSSR though, it's "a new performance tier of AI upscaling" called QSSR, which stands for Quick Spectral Super Resolution.

"Since the launch of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) on PS5 Pro, players and developers have asked whether similar image-quality improvements could be brought to the PS5 console," says SIE principal engineer of graphics R&D, Daniel Craig in a new PlayStation Blog. "PSSR analyzes game images pixel by pixel and uses AI to upscale them with more detail and stability than conventional approaches; until now, its computational demands made bringing that experience to PS5 impossible."

Sony says QSSR is made possible by two key innovations: a "streamlined neural network architecture" and "a hand-tuned implementation that maximizes performance on PS5," which work together to provide "some notable improvements to both image detail and image stability on PS5."

If you, like me, are keen to know exactly how "notable" these improvements are to the naked eye, here's a good comparison video showing Marvel's Wolverine in Fidelity Mode with and without QSSR. Watching the video, I'm encouraged that I don't have to squint even a little bit to see a very obvious increase in detail and clarity in background environments.

Only two games are confirmed to be taking advantage of QSSR right now: Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei, which Sony says are both getting patches today. No other titles have been confirmed for QSSR support.

"QSSR adds more pixel-level clarity and stability to our environments, bringing out extra detail amidst the busy streets of Madripoor, the dense alleyways of Shinjuku, and many other areas across Logan’s epic journey," says Mike Fitzgerald, head of technology at Insomniac Games. "It's a perfect companion to the launch of Marvel's Wolverine, and it brings a great taste of the PS5 Pro experience to our players on PS5."

Meanwhile, Sucker Punch lead rendering engineer Jasmin Patry says "QSSR excels at resolving the fine details in our characters and environments and does so with a level of temporal stability that hasn't been possible on the PS5 console until now." You can see how the tech upgrades character models and environments in Ghost of Yotei in the below video:

I'm eager to see how quickly other games and developers adopt QSSR and how widely the tech is applied to the PS5's back catalog, but for now I'm giving Sony its flowers for what seems like a genuinely meaningful upgrade to the base PS5 even as it nears its sixth birthday. It's not all too often you see a hardware manufacturer add new features to a console with a newer, pricier successor, as usually they want to encourage people to adopt the most current version, so I'm tentatively encouraged by this.

It's also worth drawing a very significant distinction between PSSR and QSSR and something like Nvidia's DLSS 5, which is rightfully drawing sharp criticism for using gen-AI to dramatically retool a game's actual assets, lighting, character designs, environments, etc. Basically, PSSR and QSSR sharpen up what's already there, while DLSS 5 can tinker with artistic intent, which is where the controversy comes from. The fact that all three of the above-listed features are AI upscalers has the unfortunate effect of tarring an otherwise innocent and impressive console feature with the muddy, stinky brush of gen-AI.

Amid PS5 Pro shortage, Sony implements a lottery system in Japan that requires 60 hours of playtime

PlayStation and Xbox are both pulling back from multiplatform releases and reemphasizing exclusive games. At the same time, Sony recently dropped Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear successor, Physint, leaving Microsoft to pick up the project. The console warriors might be drawing battle lines, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says the publisher's collaborations with PlayStation will continue.

Xbox still has several ongoing projects with PlayStation. Forza Horizon 6 and Fable are both set to come to PS5, and franchises like Call of Duty and Minecraft remain multiplatform affairs. As Sharma tells the New York Times: "Competition and collaboration can coexist."

According to the NYT write-up, Sharma "laughed" at the idea of apologizing to Sony for the whole kerfuffle over Physint which, hey, fair enough. The outlet additionally reports that Xbox's agreement with Kojima was "substantially below" development costs for a AAA game, and includes film and TV rights for the project.

Rumors have been floating around that Kojima was seeking something in the neighborhood of $400 million for Physint, but a new edition of The Game Business suggests that "Xbox is paying far, far less than that number," potentially less than $200 million.

For years, Xbox had been pursuing a multiplatform strategy that ultimately culminated in several major first-party games receiving ports to PS5. That strategy was one of many things that turned around when Sharma took over Xbox leadership from Phil Spencer, but there are still plenty of games under the Xbox banner which are still set to come to PS5.

For its part, PlayStation never embraced multiplatform the way Xbox (briefly) did, though a certain few games – like Bungie's Marathon – were released on the competing console. But Sony's big experiment was on PC, which is a platform it's now pulling back from. Competition and collaboration can, indeed, coexist, but it continues to feel like both concepts are a little one-sided in the modern console war.

Here are the PS5 exclusives and Xbox exclusives you need to know about.

Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida's big Tokyo Game Show recommendation is a game about removing hair.

During his time at PlayStation, Yoshida produced some of the most iconic games for the original PS1 console, but in his later years, he was known for very much being a champion of indie games at the publisher. While still at Sony, Yoshida would tweet out indie recommendations constantly, which led to him being added as a playable character in Capybara Games' Super Time Force Ultra. And since leaving Sony in 2025, this has continued, with Yoshida championing indie development in a ton of interviews.

In an interview with 4Gamer (translated by TheGamer) Yoshida drops his list of favorites from Tokyo Game Show. This includes the delightful looking Finding Polka, first-person horror Haunted Streamer, and the new Sonic the Hedgehog indie collab Sonic Pico Park.

However, Yoshida gives special props to Hair Removal Salon Simulator, which is a… hair removal salon simulator. The game features a ton of men coming into your salon and through means such as sticky tape, swords, burning, and sending out a mini goat, you help them remove all sorts of body hair.

Yoshida describes the game, saying "It's like Power Wash Simulator except you relentlessly remove hair from hairy men. It's creepy, but it feels good," adding that he "liked how the setting and the grotesque appearance were built on top of the basic feeling of satisfaction from making someone clean."

As much as I do not really vibe with the 'do a menial task you don't want to do in real life' simulator genre, this one at least seems to be somewhat funny. At the very least, I'm glad Yoshida is still keen to push indie games so prominently.

13 years after famous Microsoft dunk, ex-PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says Xbox disc-to-digital feature is "a great move."

Nearly two years have passed since Naughty Dog lifted the veil on its ambitious new sci-fi project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet – but we've not seen much of it since then.

So, when will we? Well, according to studio lead Neil Druckmann, we've still got a while to go before the developers are ready to show the mysterious game off some more.

He reveals as much in a new post on Naughty Dog's official blog, explaining, "The team is heads down on what is shaping up to be Naughty Dog’s most ambitious game yet" – and, yes, he does indeed mean Intergalactic here, which makes it all the more exciting.

"There's an electricity around the studio right now as all the pieces come together, and we're stoked to finally unveil Intergalactic in all its glory," he continues… but not yet.

"We need to cook for just a little bit longer. So we want to set expectations: we're going to be quiet for the rest of this year. In 2027, that changes. We'll fully reveal Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and give you a proper look at Jordan's wild sci-fi adventure."

Jordan is the intriguing Intergalactic protagonist, just to be clear, played by the ever-talented Tati Gabrielle. And, yes, this means we won't see more of the action-adventure gem until next year, but Naughty Dog is well aware of how lengthy our wait has been.

"We know it's been a long time since we've had much to share with you," as Druckmann states. "We don't take your continued support for granted." The devs need the time, though.

"We're working incredibly hard to make something worthy of your patience," after all, as the blog update concludes. "Until then…" Until then, I'd wager we'll be waiting with bated breath – I mean, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet doesn't appear to be a small game by any means.

The last big news we got about it was at the tail end of August, when Naughty Dog teased that it finished filming an "ambitious" cinematic shoot with Gabrielle.

Here's hoping Intergalactic's 2027 drop arrives earlier in the new year rather than later. We're only months away from it if so – I know I'll be keeping my own fingers crossed.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet "might need to be edited" to avoid "another Last of Us 2 situation," former Naughty Dog dev warns

PC players in the UK have noticed that a couple of major PlayStation titles have been delisted from Steam, but Sony says it's working to fix the issue.

Earlier this week, users in the UK noticed that Helldivers 2 and Horizon: Forbidden West were suddenly unavailable for purchase on Steam, and that the games' store pages had been delisted. However, given that it was only in the UK and only two games, it seemed to be an unintentional issue – especially Helldivers 2, its most successful PC game by a large margin, and a live service game, which Sony continues to release on PC despite no longer releasing single-player games on the platform.

In a statement to VGC, a Sony Interactive Entertainment spokesperson says, "We are aware of an issue affecting the availability of select titles on Steam in the UK," adding, "We are working with Valve to address the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience."

It's unclear how this happened, however, as the Steamworks webpage details the process for how to stop selling a game on Steam. Per Valve's guidance, the publisher would need to get in contact with it, and give context as to why the game is being delisted.

While many saw this as a likely glitch, since Sony recently announced it was no longer supporting PC with its single-player releases, it raised a few eyebrows. While it feels incredibly unlikely that PlayStation would remove already released games given its recent string of questionable decisions, it's natural some were a bit concerned.

Here's why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Marvel's Wolverine lead actor Liam McIntyre has thanked Insomniac Games and the Wolverine fanbase as his performance finally reaches the world.

Sharing a post on Twitter from Insomniac community and marketing director James Stevenson of the team celebrating the launch of Marvel's Wolverine with the actor, McIntyre congratulated the team on the release, adding, "Insomniac, you've given this nerdy kid more than he ever dreamed of. No amount of thanks will ever express my gratitude."

McIntyre later followed this up with a video message thanking fans of the game, saying, "Thank you for all of the incredible words and all the amazing support we've had on this really awesome launch day."

The Wolverine actor adds, "we've spent years and years trying to build something that we're really proud of." He also shouts out the team at Insomniac, saying, "you guys are just the absolute best." McIntyre also spoke about his role in the game, saying, "I can't believe it. This has been the honor of a lifetime."

While Wolverine is the worst-reviewed Insomniac Games title since the studio was acquired by Sony – as far as critic ratings go – so far fan reception seems to be positive, with the PlayStation Store reviews sitting at 4.84/5 stars on launch day.

McIntyre is especially receiving praise for his role, with responses to his posts full of positive comments about his performance in the game, and some calling for him to be given more projects as the character.

Marvel's Wolverine dev Insomniac has "been cooking hard" in response to negative feedback: "We have been 100% listening"

PlayStation exclusive games like Marvel's Wolverine and Marvel's Spider-Man aren't Sony's only connection to superhero media. Sony Pictures also produces the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man movies (and, of course, the likes of Madame Webb). That's created some creative opportunities, as Tom Holland himself has admitted that some of Brand New Day's terrific stunts and fight scenes were inspired by the trilogy of games. Considering the Spider-Man flicks are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios could do worse than taking some similar notes from Marvel's Wolverine.

While the action in Marvel's Wolverine on PS5 is certainly bombastic – expect lashings of blood and gore as Logan pops his adamantium claws to de-limb cybernetic reavers and pounce on ninja hidden in trees before ripping their chests out – high-octane action isn't unusual for the angry superhero. No, I think the most impressive aspect of Marvel's Wolverine, playing it as a long-time comic and movie fan, is how unbothered it is by the long shadow of Fox's iconic X-Men saga, many instalments of which put Wolverine himself front and center.

Suit up

With 10 core movies spanning 2000–2017 (discounting spin-offs like Deadpool), the landmark X-Men films truly define a generation of superhero cinema. Its original two films, alongside Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies, helped to put the comic book movie on the map and turned them into the audience-pleasers they are today.

Even since Marvel Studios got the mutant rights back from Fox in 2019 with Disney's acquisition of the company, they've so far been unable to resist the allure of playing with pre-existing toys. The past eight years have seen variant timeline heroes such as Professor Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and Wolverine in Deadpool and Wolverine being reprised by original actors Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman respectively. A core meta red herring twist in Wandavision even revolves around the idea that Evan Peters may be reprising his role as Quicksilver. Following Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marvel has finally announced a proper X-Men film is on the way in 2028, starring an all-new cast – and it's vital Marvel gets it right in a post Avengers: Doomsday world.

During all this to-ing and fro-ing, Insomniac Games' own Marvel universe on PlayStation has been in its lane, thriving. The Marvel's Spider-Man games kicked off with Peter Parker already active as the web-slinger, reinventing his history with a suite of villains while also coming up with fresh origins for familiar faces to create a world for Peter Parker to inhabit that's both familiar and fresh.

Marvel's Wolverine takes this approach even further. This is also no Wolverine origin story – only a small flash of memory points towards his Weapon X backstory that saw his bones fused with adamantium metal – but this is a universe in which the X-Men don't yet exist as an institution. In fact, the game opens up with Logan effectively coming out of retirement to assist his old crew, Team X, with rescuing their founder Nathaniel Essex from Bolivar Trask's illegal mutant blacksite facility, ending up on the trail of a grander scheme that imperils mutantkind in the process.

Logan is old, but due to suffering amnesia after going feral, he can only remember the last thirty years of his life, even if his skills before then return naturally – like being able to speak several languages fluently. Even while not being an origin story, this still manages to be a tale that juggles Wolverine finding himself and defining his future rather than his past, all while a parallel journey is happening for a dispersed and diminished mutantkind being hunted down by prejudiced forces. A better future is worth fighting for.

Team X is neither quite like the black ops Team X from the comics (formed of Weapon X test subjects) nor the X-Men themselves. They're an off-the-grid group led by Nathaniel Essex, fighting for mutant rights in a world that has forced them to do so with extreme violence. Early chapters where memorials for fallen members loom large make it clear that anything less will see you snuffed out.

There's plenty of blood-spilling from Logan, but Marvel's Wolverine is also home to quieter, bleaker moments of tragedy that are heartbreaking. Especially as – like in Spider-Man – this paints a familiar world that's just different enough from the source material to leave me constantly wondering where it'll go next, and how it can possibly resolve in a way that's not completely devastating.

Jean Grey, too, is a core character (we are living in the year of Jean Grey). Unlike her recent appearances where she's much younger, it's nice to see Jean Grey here as a grown woman fully capable and comfortable with who she is, what she wants, and what she's willing to fight for.

Here, she's grown up alongside Callisto and this game's version of the Morlocks – a found family of unhoused and abused-by-society mutants with nowhere else to turn. It's even neat to see Logan's pining for Jean in other media inverted as Jean herself is clearly won over by the power of PS5 and its ability to render Logan's incredible amount of realistic body hair and big, glistening puppy dog eyes.

Both Liam McIntyre and Krizia Bajos inhabit their roles as Wolverine and Jean Grey fantastically, with direction that makes the most of the gaming medium to give them a wider gamut of emotions through its lengthy runtime than one movie would be capable of. I also have to tip my hat to Troy Baker's turn as Nathaniel Essex, whose British accent is surprisingly good for Team X's morally grey mentor.

Even with these differences, Jean Grey still feels true to aspects from the comics that define her as an enduring character, the same as Wolverine. Plenty of Wolverine easter eggs, teasers, and cameo appearances make it clear where a potential sequel would go while ensuring this version of the world still feels like one lived in by mutants – albeit still different from either of Fox's now-converged X-Men timelines. I actually think it's quite funny that the only movie tie-in suit Wolverine can unlock in the game so far is the yellow one from Deadpool and Wolverine, which is from a character who is decidedly not the one from the rest of the Fox X-Men movies.

I'd been worried elements of Fox's X-Men would be too enduring for this game to escape, and I couldn't have been more wrong. Next up, it'll be time to see the MCU's take on rebooting the X-Men, which promises a back-to-basics team composed of Professor Xavier, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops, and Emma Frost, with Nathaniel Essex also part of the picture. Still, a true back-to-basics approach feels a little obvious. After all, that's what X-Men: First Class already did so well. I want a different take, a fresh take, one that will make me reconsider what I believe the X-Men to be – just as Marvel's Wolverine has done for me in gaming with its own twists on the mutant world.

Logan's latest adventure is definitely not without problems. In our Marvel's Wolverine review, we criticized poor pacing and a choppy structure that feels like it was compiled hastily. But, even days after finishing it a second time through New Game Plus, I'm still thinking about the game's new interpretations of classic characters. I really hope this gets a sequel, purely because I hope this isn't the last time we've seen this take on Wolverine, Jean Grey, and the rest of Team X on PS5. That's exactly the feeling Marvel's X-Men movie needs to give me when I walk out of the theater in 2028. [Pulls out a chess board mimicking the Professor X / Magneto scenes in the movies] – It's your move, MCU.

Snarling for more to play? Check out our best Marvel games ranking. Or, if you'd rather chill, our best Marvel movies list has plenty of suggestions!

After Sony made its decision to end physical disc production for new games on PlayStation consoles in 2028 public earlier this summer, fans gathered to boycott the company – but it's not exactly having any impact so far, apparently.

A few weeks back, various posts were circulating the web about a "PSBlackout" – a boycott of PlayStation and all things Sony in honor of physical media, which folks feel the company is sidelining in favor of digital purchases.

As one thread on X worded it, "We want physical games to stay! A digital-only future without ownership and customer protection law is unacceptable!" The boycott then officially "started" on August 23.

Now that it's been a little while, some users are left wondering if it made any difference in engagement with Sony's media… and, well, it sounds like it didn't – in the United States, anyway, although that seems to be largely where the boycott took off, too.

Veteran analyst and Circana games lead Mat Piscatella confirms as much in response to a curious player who questions if he's noticed "any change that could be attributed to the PSBlackout."

No. There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking.

— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T10:08:00.801Z

"No," writes Piscatella. "There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking." In other words, the blackout wasn't as fruitful as many had likely hoped.

I'm honestly not too surprised myself, though, considering the sheer scope of Sony's reach in both gaming and outside – plus, there's the fact that the company has made clear it's not budging on its decision to move away from physical releases.

In late July, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao doubled down on the plan to end PlayStation discs despite "strong views" against it, saying, "We don't see that there will be any negative impact on our business" – and, unfortunately, it appears that she wasn't exactly wrong in believing that, judging by Piscatella's analysis.

I'm still personally hopeful that Sony will see the reaction to Microsoft's own disc-to-digital conversion plan with Xbox and take note…

But, I also do highly doubt it. At the least, I'll keep my fingers crossed that we're able to find a nice middle ground in the future that allows for both digital and physical purchases on all platforms – and better consumer rights, too, please.

Here's why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Insomniac Games community director James Stevenson says the team is listening to the feedback the game received ahead of its launch.

Marvel's Wolverine has picked the worst possible time to be mid – being the worst-reviewed Insomniac game in a decade. Not only is it releasing in perhaps the most packed September to date, right after the critically acclaimed Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker and sure to be smash hits Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Control: Resonant, but it comes amid a string of bad decisions from Sony.

PS5 consoles are becoming prohibitively expensive for many, Sony abandoning physical games has been a constant in the discourse for months now, and right before Wolverine reviews dropped, it was revealed that the publisher wanted to cancel Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear spiritual successor Physint – with the game falling in Xbox's lap. Basically, Sony needed a win.

And while it doesn't seem like Wolverine is by any means a bad game, it clearly has some issues that have been picked up by players and reviewers over the last week. But in a post on Twitter, Stevenson acknowledges its shortcomings, saying, "We have been 100% listening over the last few days," adding that "the team has been cooking hard today in response to some of the feedback."

While multiplayer or live-service projects overhauling themselves and turning things around isn't too new a concept – see No Man's Sky – it's also started to become a thing in single-player games in recent times. Most notably, Crimson Desert, released earlier this year, has been constantly updating itself based on player complaints, with a full story overhaul patch being released last month. So in some cases you really are better off waiting a few years for things to get changed.

Check out the GamesRadar+ Marvel's Wolverine review to see what we thought of Insomniac's latest.

While Sony cites "consumer preferences" for digital games as the core reason for its decision to abandon physical PlayStation releases, the numbers presented in a new report tell a different story. Games like Marvel's Spider-Man 2 are still making a ton of money on disc, according to Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics, and Sony's decision to end discs is much more about controlling the overall market for PlayStation games.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 earned $1.2 billion in gross revenue, according to the estimates in Elliot's latest newsletter, 35% of which was made up of physical unit sales. Ghost of Yotei made $400 million, with 37.6% physical. Astro Bot hit $275 million with 46.8% physical. Death Stranding 2 made $129 million, with 41.8% physical.

Why are these numbers so much higher than we've seen from other sources, including Sony itself? For one thing, many of the previous numbers have been counting unit sales, not revenue. For another, Alinea's numbers are about revenue generated, not units sold. And, of course, here we're talking purely about "prestige single-player" games, whose audiences are more likely to buy physical.

"Physical revenue is huge in the prestige single-player games Sony is getting more cautious about," Elliot argues, noting that "a disc dollar is worth less to Sony than a digital one, as there’s the retailer cut, manufacturing and distribution." Certainly, Sony would prefer if it were able to keep 100% of the revenue from these games, and it's betting that whatever players it loses by ditching physical releases will be offset by increased net profits.

So, Elliott argues, "the disc decision was largely about margins, control, and killing the secondhand market," rather than a recognition of consumer trends. We all likely could have guessed as much, and these factors are exactly why I've argued that PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, but there's some vindication in seeing the thought backed up by market analysis numbers. That doesn't make the prospect of an all-digital PS6 any less annoying, though.

Sony has topped a generational run of self-owns: abandoning Hideo Kojima's next Metal Gear right as Marvel's Wolverine falls flat.

The middle section of Marvel's Wolverine feels like it nails the game developer Insomniac Games wanted to make. Set in a small semi open world Tokyo district, it sees Logan exploring and fighting – grumpily following leads as he criss-crosses the area following the clues that have brought him there. It's lively, layered, and just a fun place to be: full of cool little alleys, laden with eye-grabbing posters and neon lights, and, often, interesting places that, sure enough, wind up being somewhere you revisit in more detail later.

There's an enjoyable variety here where the texture of the game changes nicely, a range of gameplay and moments breaking up combat as you literally sniff out trails, look for clues, and enjoy existing in the buzzing neon lit space. I spent a lot more time than I needed here looking in shop windows, examining signs, listening in on conversations, or watching people just mill about. Most importantly there's a solid sense of progression to your time in Tokyo, with a clear arc and purpose to take you through it all, that feels meaningful.

By contrast the rest of the game feels thin, and largely consists of boxy corridors that top and tail Tokyo with shallow combat luges broken up by cutscene checkpoints and little else. Unlike the studio's Spider-Man games, Wolverine is strictly chapter-based and linear, more like Uncharted but without the finesse. You might find a corner here, hiding a collectible, or a forked path there, to give you a little agency to the type of forward progression you choose, but it's surprising just how nothingy these areas feel, especially in the opening act. After Tokyo, flow improves a little, with some occasional extra variety and scope, but combat still overwhelms many spaces that don't do much more than exist to house it, while the story sort of vaguely wafts its hand at reasons why it's all happening.

Not quite the best there is

Wolverine's gory, knife-handed combat is enjoyable for the most part, at least. It's functional and well formed, but it does lack the sort of magnetic snap that a great fighting system has when you lock into a flow. There's a good toolkit of moves to deal with enemies and situations, with a leaping attack to clear spaces fast as you bounce between meatbags, and some satisfying special moves you can pull out to mince through crowds or target single opponents for an unnecessary level of beatdown. It's bloody, messy and feels suitably Wolverine as claws end up in guts, faces, skulls and more.

However, all this people blending is built around a Rage system that feels both overcomplicated and inconsequential at the same time. There are three tiers: the first gets you started and enables a regenerative revive if you're downed; the second adds extra damage to combo finishers; and, finally, tier 3 amps up all damage and lets you perform insta-kill critical strikes against low health, staggered, or intimidated enemies.

That all sounds fine in theory but it never really feels like it actually does that much outside of the Last Stand revival. Insta-kill criticals are fickle at best thanks to the criteria needed to trigger them, and because certain key elements are locked behind Adaptation perks you need to unlock and equip - all the things that really make Rage sing is in these Adaptations, making it feel like you have the trial version for most of the game until you unlock its full potential.

By contrast, progression in the Techniques tree just sort of unfolds via a ladder of abilities that, thanks to an abundance of experience points, all gradually unlock over the course of play. The deepest choice you get in your build here is deciding on which four of the six special abilities you'll have equipped.

Combat ready

There's also the odd choice to keep the ability to parry multiple simultaneous attacks locked behind a fairly late game skill. That's a total game changer as, without it, you're trying to parry single individual attacks while surrounded by a horde swinging freely at all times. Until you get that multi-parry ability you're deflecting one attack only to be hit by another a split second behind it. But, once you have it, combat comes alive in a dance of ripostes as you weave through enemy crowds like a Whirling Dervish made of knives.

As a result, as you pick Adaptations and skills it seems less like you're improving Wolverine's combat, and more like you're just making it what it should be. The end result, when you've basically unlocked everything, feels like where it should have started. It means combat has some good moments, mostly as it improves much later into the game, but for a character defined by fighting it leaves a lot to be desired.

There's also an odd stealth system that sort of appears occasionally, but it's the kind of 'magic grass' set-up where you have no real control over it – just areas you automatically hide in. You can't wall hug, hide on cue, peek around corners, or lure enemies. Instead, you have to read the layout of what's ahead to plan a route that will take out the most enemies without raising the alarm. It's a strange system that, like a lot of things here, never feels like it was fully worked out.

The plot itself consists of three largely unconnected sections hot-glued together via a semi formed MacGuffin that changes purpose as the story develops, as well as a few basically random events.

I can't explain too much without spoiling things but everything's held together so loosely that you can't look directly at it without it all unraveling. You can feel it straining to exist in its own world, trying to carve out an existence devoid of most notable mutants and characters like the X-Men - the story starts with you attached to what is functionally a school for gifted youngsters but not that one.

Much of Wolverine feels like it's ended up in a shape it wasn't meant to be in, with both mechanics and plot points introduced haphazardly, and just as likely to be forgotten about as used again. Numerous combat, gameplay, and story ideas drift in and out of use or existence – audio diaries pop in and out of being 'a thing', for example; the story ping-pongs between antagonists looking for a firm villain, while re-using one of the (only two) enemy factions with a new leader at a later stage. There's also a relatively minor character that suddenly becomes pivotal to a sizable chunk of the story before largely disappearing again, save for a loose thread pinching last minute cameo.

Marvel's Wolverine is never a bad experience, just an underwhelming one full of odd choices. I enjoyed it enough for the most part but never really felt blown away, or like I was getting the game Wolverine deserved. Especially considering this is the same studio that literally let Spider-Man soar on PS5. It also feels lightweight for such a blockbuster release – you'll struggle to get more than 20 hours out of it even if you 100% what there is, and replaying missions just highlights how straightforward many of the areas actually are. There are some nice moments and ideas but they're muted overall by lengthy and monotone combat, inconsistent gameplay, and a track jumping story. Ironically, for a character that's the best at what they do, this is basically OK.

Marvel's Wolverine was reviewed on PS5, with code provided by the publisher. All screenshots where taken in Performance Mode on a standard PS5.

Check out our best Marvel games ranking for more to dig your claws into!

Ever since God of War Laufey was revealed this past summer, fans have been squabbling over Sony Santa Monica's decision to move aside Kratos as the game's main protagonist in favor of his second wife and mother to Atreus, Laufey. Well, that debate has now been ended quite decisively, as none other than Kratos actor Christopher Judge has stepped in with an unequivocal stamp of approval for the upcoming sequel.

"It's a banger," Judge said during a Fan Expo Canada panel (via Collider) "People are going to be blown away." Speaking directly to Woll's casting, Judge added, "She's so beloved in so many fandoms, and man, she brings it. She absolutely brings it."

Indeed, Woll is a beloved and prolific actor with major roles across TV, film, and video games. She's known as Jessica Hamby in True Blood, Karen Page in the MCU, and Faye, or Laufey, in the Norse era of Sony's God of War games. Though she was briefly seen, dead, in the first God of War from 2018, she appeared more prominently in cutscenes in God of War Ragnarok, and Laufey will be her first appearance as a playable character in the series. And if Judge is correct, you won't want to go back.

We saw plenty of Faye's moveset in the 20 minutes of footage shown in God of War Laufey's announcement, and the nimble, acrobatic hero couldn't be more different to the hulking, lumbering Kratos. Woll herself previously called Kratos's gameplay "fantastic because he's such a heavy hitter," but added that Faye is "just as strong and just as good a warrior." Of course, if you've spent any time on the internet ever, you won't be surprised to hear there were some negative reactions to Laufey being the main protagonist, which Woll has wisely shrugged off.

God of War Laufey hits PS5 on February 16, 2027.

God of War Laufey proves women are still gaining ground in gaming, and I'm thrilled Kratos is sitting this one out

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says a future without physical discs is "depressing but solvable."

Soon after Sony's announcement that it would end physical disc production for PlayStation games, a report out of Austria was interpreted as Sony ending all but 10% of its production. However, speaking to Game, a Sony DADC spokesperson explains, "To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent." So while there's still a reduction, it's not as large as was reported.

Game also spoke to former chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, who led PlayStation for several years. Layden described a future without PlayStation discs as "depressing, but solvable," or at least "I think"

At the moment, Sony owns the process for pressing PlayStation discs, meaning that once Sony stops manufacturing them, PlayStation discs will be discontinued. However, some companies have expressed interest in continuing to release physical copies, with CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski promising The Witcher 4 will have a physical release, even if having a disc isn't possible.

As for developers potentially having the option to release disc versions of their PlayStation games, Layden explains, "unless they decide or determine a way to license that to some of these bespoke disc manufacturers, there’s no way to make it happen".

Microsoft currently licenses the production of Xbox discs to external plants via manufacturers it certifies as "authorized replicators."

Layden says, "I believe that physical media is crucial and important. One of the things that makes us gamers, one of the core game mechanics, going back to the beginning of time, is collecting stuff."

He adds, "This was a core thing to the experience of our most devoted fans," and that "the market has said they will continue to buy them. You’re just saying you just don’t want to make them anymore."

Sony lawyers argue that nobody is stupid enough to believe they actually own digital games, because then only one person could buy GTA 6.

The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann says that working on the series' HBO TV adaptation of the Naughty Dog game hasn't changed his approach to writing, but he's learned some lessons that have been brought into developing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Druckmann explained that for Season 3 of the HBO TV series, he "wasn't involved in shaping this season's creative direction, and Naughty Dog did not have a creative role." Druckmann was a writer and showrunner for the first and second seasons of the HBO series.

However, he stepped away from the series ahead of its third season to focus on the production of Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Now, Druckmann says that working on the TV series hasn't changed his approach to writing in games, but explains that it has changed his approach to other aspects of creating Intergalactic. For example, a TV series needs to account for elements like lighting and makeup, which Druckmann says are lessons that have been brought into the studio's next game.

And despite the lack of an announced sequel, Druckmann says that Naughty Dog isn't "done with The Last of Us." Whether that means a full-fledged The Last of Us Part 3 or simply more multimedia projects around the franchise remains unclear. But given that it's been over six years since Naughty Dog released a game, and with the possibility that the developer skips the PS5 generation entirely, I don't think we'll see a new Last of Us game for a while.

Looking to pass the time until The Last of Us 3 releases in a decade's time? Browse through our roundup of the best new games coming this year and beyond.

The Last of Us co-lead Neil Druckmann says that Naughty Dog isn't quite finished with its beloved IP – and it sounds like he's not just referencing the HBO series, either.

Although The Last of Us TV show is ongoing, with the third season underway to "wrap up" the story from the existing two games, as Druckmann tells The Washington Post in a new interview, there might be more in the works outside of the television adaptation.

He begins by saying that he "wasn't involved in shaping this season's creative direction, and Naughty Dog did not have a creative role" in the show's progression either.

So, he "can't personally speak to how production is progressing" – but that doesn't necessarily spell the end of The Last of Us in its entirety.

"It's important for us to note that as the creator of the games, Naughty Dog is still the steward of this IP and even though this might be the end of this adaptation, we're not done with The Last of Us," he reveals.

In fact, it sounds like there's more than one Last of Us-shaped project coming from the studio.

"There's a couple projects in the works that, when the time is right, I'm very excited to talk about," as Druckmann concludes.

So, what could those projects be? Well, I'm immediately reminded of The Last of Us Online – the canceled multiplayer project that its former game director dubbed "the best multiplayer game" many Naughty Dog devs had "ever played." It never came to fruition, of course, but I can't help but think of it.

That's not to say it's happening – it was canceled, after all… but there are apparently two (or more, maybe?) things going on over at Naughty Dog that are within The Last of Us realm, so it's all exciting news nonetheless.

I've personally got my own fingers crossed for some sort of spin-off, as I'm not sure they could effectively do an official Part 3, considering everything that happens in The Last of Us 2. Who knows, though?

Anything could happen, but we'll just have to wait and see what Naughty Dog has in store. It sounds like Druckmann is gearing up to reveal it soon-ish, so, yeah.

Searching for something more solid to look forward to? Browse through our roundup of the best new games coming this year and beyond, in that case.

Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki says selling PS5 consoles isn't as important at this point in its life; instead, monetizing the existing user base is the priority.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Totoki explains that the ongoing global RAM shortages, driven by AI companies, aren't Sony's biggest problem right now. While it has caused the company to increase prices of PS5 consoles by £90 across the board, Totoki explains, "we are in the latter half of the lifetime cycle of a PS console. That means that we do not need to aggressively sell the console today."

Totoki explains, "We are focusing on recurring revenue from the current user base," citing PS Plus and noting that among the over 95 million PS5 consoles sold, the subscription service has "more than 125 million" monthly active users. He adds, "how to monetize from that user [base] is quite important for us."

Many of us who remember the era will talk about how Sony's overconfidence off the back of the PS2's success led to the company making poor decisions, such as setting the PS3's high launch price and just expecting everyone to go along with it.

And with the PS4 and PS5 doing well, it very much feels like we're back in that era, only this time, no matter how many bad decisions Sony has made this generation – the live service focus, killing physical games, forcing PSN on PC – Microsoft is too busy tripping over its own shoelaces to take advantage like it did with the Xbox 360. Competition is healthy, but Sony is now at the point where the lead is so huge that it doesn't need to "aggressively sell the console," because where else are you playing GTA 6?

Sony lawyers argue that nobody is stupid enough to believe they actually own digital games, because then only one person could buy GTA 6

For gamers who've been following industry news long enough, Sony's recent announcement of plans to end physical PlayStation discs echoed Microsoft's plans for always-online DRM back on the Xbox One. Now, Sony is spiritually following another dead-end path first embraced by Xbox One: live TV.

A PS5 update today adds a "Live TV on PS5" app to the media tab on US consoles. The results look like any other faux-cable streaming service, with a big list of channels to tune into. The service promises an array of movies, TV shows, anime, sports broadcasts, and more, and specific shows like Naruto, Sailor Moon, Community, The Walking Dead, and others are noted in the announcement.

It's along the same lines as the speciality TV stations provided on Roku boxes and similar devices, and honestly, it's a decent value-add for PS5 users. Did I buy a game console to watch Community reruns? No, but I don't mind the option to put on some background noise in the afternoon.

But there's a reason that the trailer for this feature is filled with comments like "it’s like Xbox One all over again," "they've gone full Xbox One," and "hey Don Mattrick is that really you?" When the Xbox One was unveiled in 2013, it was presented not as a game console, but as an all-in-one home entertainment box, which would work as a sort of souped-up DVR that would integrate with cable subscriptions.

This initiative, led by executive Don Mattrick, helped build the impression that Xbox One was abandoning the core gaming audience that the brand was meant to serve. Then came the controversy over the console's always-online DRM plans, which Sony was happy to dunk on alongside the rest of the gaming world.

While Xbox One eventually ditched the DRM and the TV stuff was ultimately a footnote on the console, bad PR dealt the platform a blow that Xbox as a whole has yet to recover from. Now, over a decade later, it's a much different world. Consumer buying habits have shifted mostly to digital. People use their video game consoles as streaming boxes all the time.

But bad PR is bad PR in any era, and Sony's decision to end discs has kicked off a controversy that's shown no signs of slowing down. Whether it actually affects the company's bottom line remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure – PlayStation is making all the wrong choices if it's hoping to win in the court of public opinion.

Sony lawyers argue that nobody is stupid enough to believe they actually own digital games, because then only one person could buy GTA 6.

With the end of physical PlayStation games looming, the need for clear digital ownership rights is more pressing than ever. For its part, Sony believes your rights are very clear: you do not own your digital games, and it's unlikely you're stupid enough to believe otherwise. At least, that's roughly the argument the company's lawyers are presenting in response to a proposed class-action lawsuit.

Sony argues that its current customer-facing disclosures ensure that "reasonable consumers would not be misled" into believing they actually own their digital games. That's according to a Game File report (paid article link) citing an August 21 filing Sony's lawyers made in California's Northern District.

The publisher is responding to a proposed class action lawsuit, which alleges that Sony is violating a California law that requires digital stores to clearly explain that customers are purchasing licenses rather than actual products when they buy digital goods. The law requires a "clear and conspicuous" warning about the nature of the purchase.

Sony's terms of service and software product licensing agreement (SPLA) both clearly lay out that you "do not own the product" and "it is not sold for you to own." But those are statements buried deep within lengthy documents, so the idea that they meet that "clear and conspicuous" requirement is fairly suspect.

But from here, Sony's argument gets quite a bit weirder. "As Plaintiffs admit, Section 1 of the SPLA likewise explains that 'The Software is licensed to you, not sold,'" the filing says. "This makes sense. In the digital age, it is not plausible to allege that reasonable consumers believed they were obtaining 'ownership' of a digital game."

In other words, Sony's lawyers are arguing that if you truly own your digital games, only one copy of GTA 6 could ever be sold. "Were that the case, then Plaintiff Edward Heycock would not have been able to obtain the game Resident Evil Requiem on February 25, 2026 for $69.99 from the PlayStation Store after Plaintiff Jason Mendoza had obtained Resident Evil Requiem on February 14, 2026, because Mr. Mendoza, not Sony, would have owned it then," the filing says.

Notably, these arguments were filed just before PlayStation sent out email reminders to its customers reminding them that they don't own anything. Clearly, Sony wants to make its position on this matter clear.

Sony's terms of service also specifically bars users from taking part in class action lawsuits against the company, with disputes instead resolved by private arbitration – a process which tends to be preferable for big companies. But it's ultimately for a judge to decide whether that arbitration clause is actually binding. These arguments are part of an effort from Sony to ensure the case goes to arbitration – whether the judge agrees remains to be seen.

Industry lobbyists ridicule "false premise" that "consumers 'own' digital games" amid Stop Killing Games fight.

Just as with Insomniac's previous Spider-Man games, Marvel's Wolverine promises plenty of callbacks to its titular character's long history in comics, movies, and TV. But I got quite a laugh out of one detail in the game's latest trailer – a direct reference to an infamous meme originating in the beloved '90s X-Men cartoon.

The new game features trailer shows us a brief flash of what appears to be a level select screen, where you can replay previous missions. In the foreground, a text menu breaks down the stages by location and mission name, and on the other side we see a brief description of that level, alongside a tracker showing how many of its collectables you've missed.

In the background, we see Wolverine laying back in bed, longingly staring at a small picture frame he's holding in his hands. This, of course, is a tribute to the Wolverine Crush meme, which originates in X-Men: The Animated Series. You've probably seen '90s Wolverine staring at all kinds of things over the years, but in the original episode he's jealously looking at a photo of Jean Grey and Cyclops.

According to a breakdown on the PlayStation Blog, this mission replay screen appears in Logan's Nightmare Cabin, which tracks with my hands-on time in Marvel's Wolverine. While wandering through levels, you'll stumble upon unreal doors that lead into a nightmare version of Logan's home, where you can take on various challenges. I didn't see this level select screen in my preview time, but it looks like the cabin will also be how you select missions to replay.

There are plenty of other low-key references to specific moments in Wolverine history, including numerous suits to unlock ranging from the classic brown-and-yellow to the nearly indecent Weapon X look. But I never would've expected such a goofy reference to creep into such a prominent part of Marvel's Wolverine, even though I love it all the same.

Marvel's Wolverine was inspired by one of the few video game movie tie-ins that doesn't suck: "We had the same challenges as those devs."

Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has praised the new Xbox disc-to-digital initiative, with many pointing out the irony of his classic PS4 game sharing video following Sony's decision to drop physical games.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that physical Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S discs will soon be able to be transferred to digital games. This comes around a month after Sony confirmed it will stop producing physical games in 2028 for the PS5 and any future PlayStation console. That, funnily enough, also came shortly after GTA 6 confirmed that its 'physical' games will be codes in boxes instead of a real physical game, meaning you're buying a license that can be revoked at any time, as Sony was keen to remind players in an ill-timed email.

Over on Twitter, Yoshida tweeted Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's post announcing the initiative, calling it "A great move by team Xbox." But of course, many people's minds went straight to one of PlayStation's biggest dunks on Xbox, with the "Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video" showing Yoshida simply handing a game to Adam Boyes as a jab at Xbox One's potential no-used-games policy.

However, despite the irony, many have been praising Yoshida, asking for the former PlayStation boss to return now that Sony is consistently upsetting players due to its poor, somewhat anti-consumer, decisions, with one user saying "You've always had class praising Nintendo Microsoft and even Steam for the good they do even when you were directly working for PlayStation." adding that "PlayStation hasn't been the same without you."

Here's why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not

Sony recently sent an email to folks with PlayStation accounts reminding them of the Terms of Service they agreed to when signing up, the lack of full rights to digital purchases, and all.

The email has arrived not even two months after Sony made its decision to end physical disc production for new games on PlayStation consoles in 2028 public, which is certainly… a choice.

If you've not received it yourself, it's quite lengthy, but it basically outlines all of the company's Terms of Service. Most notably, it gets into digital purchases, and how they can be rescinded – yes, "even those you paid for," as the email reads. "The software is licensed to you, not sold," after all.

Now, that's not to say that this will happen, but more so that it can. For example, should you lose access to your PlayStation account, you'll also lose access to your digital purchases. Or, if Sony issues a ban or the like against you, you can similarly lose access to your digital games.

It's a tough pill to swallow amid all the game preservation chatter, especially as Sony recently doubled down on its plan to axe physical discs.

Folks aren't taking the email very well, unsurprisingly, as it serves as a reminder that we'll never truly "own" our digital purchases.

That's not all, either – there are other tidbits that aren't sitting well with users, like the fact that Sony writes it "may track and record your activity on PlayStation Online Services" and that its "liability will not be more than £100." In other words, that's the most the company can pay you back, should it need to.

Over on X, one disgruntled user points out some of these eye-catching Terms of Service highlights, starting with the fact that "you don't own your digital games, you rent a license," and if an account is "closed or banned, your games are gone, even paid ones."

Comments show disappointment across the board, with many people upset by the blatant lack of consumer rights for digital purchases.

"This company are total greedy assholes right now," one response reads, "and Rockstar Games are just as guilty." They're likely referencing the fact that GTA 6 is essentially digital only – a point that allegedly spurred the recent GTA 6 leaks circulating the web.

Another adds, "Sony's executives truly represent everything that is wrong with gaming." A good few responses bring up pirating games, too.

That checks out, considering how game preservation experts recently predicted the rise in digital gaming would all just lead to more piracy – but it's important to note that this isn't a PlayStation-exclusive problem.
As a separate thread explains, Microsoft has similar Terms of Service for Xbox users. It's an issue that isn't tethered to one console or platform, but rather… well, pretty much every single one that supports digital purchases.

Here's hoping we're able to find a nice middle ground in the future that allows for both digital and physical purchases – and consumer rights, too, please.

Here's why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not

Earlier today, a new report claimed that PlayStation is planning a substantial rework of Horizon Hunters Gathering, responding to poor playtest feedback for the multiplayer spin-off by stripping the live-service elements in order to make it more of a traditional co-op game. That report also has some bad news for fans of the traditional Horizon games: Horizon 3 is apparently still years away.

The "majority" of developers at Guerrilla Games are still working on Horizon Hunters Gathering, according to Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. That leaves a very small team planning the next single-player Horizon game, which is apparently still years away from being finished.

That's pretty much the same story that's been reported since February, when Horizon Hunters Gathering was first announced. Even then, Schreier was reporting that the majority of Guerrilla was working on the multiplayer spin-off, leaving Horizon 3 on the backburner. It seems that hasn't changed, even as the studio finds itself forced to pivot from the initial plans for Hunters Gathering.

Five years separated the launches of Horizon Zero Dawn in 2017 and Horizon Forbidden West in 2022, and it's looking like there might be an even longer wait before Horizon 3 rolls around. I'd even hazard a guess that we won't be buying Horizon 3 on a physical disc.

PlayStation has made a big push into live-service games over the past few years, and during that span we saw the launch and immediate shutdown of Concord, a middling response for Bungie's Marathon, and the death of Destiny 2. The publisher's biggest recent multiplayer hit is certainly Helldivers 2, which wasn't even developed internally. It's tough to put that context out of mind when another multiplayer experiment is dragging resources away from one PlayStation's biggest single-player franchises.

"Single-player, narrative-driven gaming is here to stay," ex-PlayStation boss says: "It's how we built this business. That's what sustains it."

Horizon Zero Dawn and sequel Horizon Forbidden West spin-off Horizon Hunters Gathering is reportedly taking on a new shape following ill-received playtests.

Horizon Hunters Gathering, a project from developer Guerrilla Games and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment, has been in the works for a little while now. Guerrilla unveiled the game as a live service multiplayer spin-off back in February, at which point it was reported that "most of the studio" was on the new title (much to the dismay of folks hoping for a Horizon threequel, unsurprisingly).

It doesn't seem to be going all that well so far, however.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, unnamed sources familiar with the project's current state allege that PlayStation has been reworking it since June after receiving poor feedback following private playtesting – perhaps the second round of playtesting that rolled out in May.

Supposedly, the devs and publisher are transforming Horizon Hunters Gathering into a more "traditional" co-op experience with a story mode… and much smaller scope.

BREAKING: PlayStation is rebooting the online game Horizon Hunters Gathering after negative playtest feedback. New plan is smaller scope, more traditional co-op multiplayer, no more live service.Yet another entry in PlayStation's ongoing live-service struggles: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

— @jasonschreier.bsky.social (@jasonschreier.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-08-19T16:04:34.727Z

What that means precisely is unknown, but at the least, the game doesn't seem to be entirely scrapped – yet, anyway.

As per the report, Sony apparently told Guerrilla that devs would have until the end of December to change things for the better and impress higher-ups with the game. That's not all, either.

Apparently, many of Horizon Hunters Gathering's current devs will end up reassigned to a separate project (although there's no title provided here).

Bloomberg states that a representative for PlayStation has declined to comment. There's also no solid word from Guerrilla itself, but it's disheartening to read nonetheless.

It hasn't exactly been an easy time for live service games recently, with failed and axed projects from Sony popping up left, right, and center. I'm immediately reminded of the supposed live service God of War spin-off and, of course, The Last of Us Online.

As for what's next for Horizon Hunters Gathering, it's hard to tell. Here's hoping that either the dev or publisher provides a bit of information itself soon.

Horizon Steel Frontiers is coming out in 2027, publisher confirms, while we still wait for news on Forbidden West sequel.

Perhaps no single object in all of video games is quite so haunted by infamy as the golf club in The Last of Us Part 2. The prop used to represent that golf has apparently remained in PlayStation's motion capture studio for all these years – until, it seems, the day Deborah Ann Woll walked on set for God of War Laufey.

First, if you haven't yet played The Last of Us Part 2 and have somehow avoided learning about its first act twist for all these years, here's a SPOILER WARNING for the rest of this article. Still here? Good. The opening hours of The Last of Us Part 2 see Joel, the protagonist of the previous game, brutally beaten to death with a golf club by the vengeful Abby.

The golf club itself instantly became something of a meme. Now, years later, it still serves both as a symbol of the game's most devastating moment and a lazy shorthand for those who didn't like the way the story went. Either way, the actual prop used in the motion capture sessions for the game is nigh unrecognizable. You can get a brief glimpse of it in the 2024 documentary on the making of The Last of Us Part 2, around the 52:50 mark: a big, purple stick shaped like an elongated baseball bat.

So you can forgive Deborah Ann Woll, who portrays the title character in God of War Laufey, for not instantly noticing the significance of the purple stick. "My very first day on set for Laufey, we were doing a scene, and they handed me a prop," she says in a San Diego Comic-Con panel. "Unbeknownst to me, this was a very famous prop that they had used on The Last of Us."

A clip of Woll's comments was recently shared on Twitter by Santa Monica Studio. With an ironic grin, she turns to game director Ariel Lawrence and asks, "Was it a hockey stick? Or a baseball bat?"

"It was a golf club," Lawrence dryly responds.

"Some sort of sporting equipment, you know," Woll continues. "They gave it to me, and I was supposed to use it like an axe. And I… broke it."

The clip also shows footage of the incident. Woll is in normal clothes – not motion capture gear – so this seems to be some sort of test footage or rehearsal session. But she's so into the scene that she absolutely smashes that stick into the ground, where it snaps in two with a loud 'thunk.' She awkwardly drops the stick, clearly afraid she's broken something important, but in the background, somebody shouts "Yeeeeaaaah! Yeah!"

"She swung it so hard, it cracked, and it echoed throughout" the motion capture studio, Lawrence says. "And we were like 'hot damn, let's go.'"

God of War Laufey is just one of many upcoming PS5 games worth keeping on your radar.

After catching flak for their opinions on Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, fighting game icon SonicFox has commented on their win in the game's first major tournament.

Marvel Tokon has been available for just over a week, and it has already had its first major tournament appearance at CEO 2026 over the weekend. The tournament had 1,057 entrants – the second-highest at the tourney behind Street Fighter 6's 1,110 – including the likes of Marvel vs Capcom legend Justin Wong, Leffen, and SonicFox, who would go on to win the tournament from Losers Top 8.

While SonicFox is best known for their domination of NetherRealm games like Mortal Kombat and Injustice, they were a big winner in Arc-Sys' previous tag-team fighter Dragon Ball FighterZ, so their win isn't too shocking, but this win also comes in the wake of their criticism of the new fighter.

Back during the beta, SonicFox said the game "needs way more work still since so many decisions don't make a lot of sense," while adding that "The characters are genuinely pretty interesting, just heavily restricted by the game itself." Naturally, this inspired a ton of comments about SonicFox disliking the game being a skill issue, or using the fact SonicFox primarily plays the generally poorer quality Mortal Kombat games as an excuse to discredit their opinion.

After the CEO win, SonicFox took to Twitter to say "this win should definitely make people actually shut the fuck up and let me voice my opinions on the game" and that it's "delusion to believe that I don’t like a game because I can’t be 'good' at it." SonicFox then adds, "This win was purely out of spite" to those reactions to their opinion on the game.

Marvel Tokon has been struggling out the gate a bit. It launched with rough PC performance (which was swiftly patched by Arc System Works after the game's first weekend), a lack of Linux support, and a requirement for a PSN account, which locks players in certain countries out of the game entirely, resulting in the game sitting at Mixed Steam reviews. This includes seasoned players, like Sajam, who called it "one of the worst fighting game launches," while Maximillian ended up uninstalling the PC version of the game live on stream to grab a PS5 copy after issues with the port.

Meanwhile, analysts reckon the game's reported 485,000 copies sold mark could've been closer to a million had the PC version not had so many issues.

Check out our Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review to see how Arc System Works' latest stacks up.

It sounds like a detail from an alternate universe now, but former Sony Interactive president Shuhei Yoshida was convinced turn-based JRPGs were too unpopular while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was in development. So he advised its publisher, Kepler Interactive, to describe the 2025 game as something different from what it actually was, and the studio listened.

Yoshida spoke about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the guidance he'd given other indie publishers during his tenure as PlayStation's indie division lead during the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026, reports Japanese site 4Gamer, in a write-up which was translated by Automaton. Yoshida recalls during his Busan Indie Connect lecture informing indie studios on how to pick the best publisher that he was impressed by Expedition 33 when he played the game two years early, but he wasn't optimistic about its allegiance to vintage, turn-based JRPGs.

Baldur's Gate 3 refreshed the public's memory about the simple pleasures of turn-based combat when it launched in 2023, but Yoshida felt sure that most new turn-based games were overlooked around that time for being unfashionable.

Fellow AA hits like Lies of P suggested players at the time wanted their combat to be action-based and brutal. So while Yoshida loved Expedition 33's "combination of turn-based JRPG mechanics and real-time action inputs reminiscent of The Legend of Dragoon" – the PS1 fantasy game Yoshida produced in 1999 – he was skeptical. Developer Sansdall Interactive heeded his warnings about the turn-based genre and started promoting Expedition 33 in broader terms, touting its "reactive turn-based battles."

"It's incredibly well-made," Yoshida remembers informing Sandfall, "but it would be better not to call it a turn-based RPG. That alone might cause players to overlook it.”

But Yoshida offers this anecdote as an example of why trend-chasing publishers may sometimes find their efforts unnecessary. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ultimately released to an infrared blast of praise, critical acclaim, and it earned a historic number of GOTY awards.

Its genre might have been more suited to 1991 than 2025, but that made no difference once audiences got smacked with Expedition 33's quality. Yoshida says, after the game's success, publishers have been receiving more pitches for turn-based RPGs.

So, after all of its GOTY wins and accidentally revitalizing a genre, here's another best-case scenario for Expedition 33: it set a trend instead of following one.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's "untranslatable" inspiration is finally getting an English release after 22 years.

Between our love for angry Logan himself and how solid Insomniac Games' Spider-Man series has been, Marvel's Wolverine has been high on our new games wishlist for a while even before we saw any gameplay. I know, I know, that's a bit naughty of us – but sometimes our comic book loving brains are just waiting to be scratched just right. Thankfully, Wolverine's claws are reaching all the right places now we've visited the development studio and played the game for ourselves.

In our Marvel's Wolverine hands-on, we've been overjoyed that Logan's adventure doesn't just feel like a Spider-Man reskin, but something that really celebrates the character. Spending two hours with the game through its first act, across two sections, we've had plenty of time to sink our claws into Wolverine's rage-fuelled combat, play with stealth, get a little too invested in its story, and even hang out with Team X.

But what are the best bits? Why get excited? Luckily for you I'll lead you right to the 'X' marking my superhero fandom spot across eight highlights I've pulled together below! Excited? Let us know which features you're looking forward to trying for yourself in the comments.

8. "This is uniquely Logan"

Make no mistake, we love Marvel's Spider-Man, but with three web-slinging games under its belt, we had some reservations about how distinct Insomniac Games' take on Wolverine would be. Thankfully, the studio seems to have been conscious about that themselves. Director Jess Reiner-Reed tells us that "any decision we're making, we're trying to go: 'Is this right for Wolverine? Is this telling a Logan-centric story?" Having played the game ourselves, we agree – this really does feel like a game that could only exist for Wolverine.

7. Feeling the Rage

Claws out, Marvel's Wolverine was always going to need combat that feels excellent – and Insomniac Games have hit on something special with Logan's Rage. A meter that builds up while fighting, it can be unleashed to enable instant kills, and lasts longer the more violence you dish out. It gives scraps an excellent sense of momentum that really highlights the berserker fighter that Wolverine is. It even loops back into his health system, where his Rage will allow him to get back up again, supercharging his regenerative capabilities so he won't stay down. Again – this is a fighting system that would only make sense for Wolverine.

6. PS5 Power

Few PlayStation first-party studios have had the output of Insomanic Games in recent years – Marvel's Wolverine is the team's fifth release on PS5. Both Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 are exclusive to the console, while the cross-gen Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales was one of the console's best PS5 games in its launch window. Quantity hasn't hampered quality either – they've all been excellent. "One thing we're really proud about at the studio is shipping games," says head of technology Mike Fitzgerald. Likewise, Marvel's Wolverine feels like a real technical achievement so far. Stunning to play, this studio really knows how to get the most out of the system this many years deep into the generation.

5. Violence for a reason

Wolverine is an angry man, but he's no caricature in this PS5 game. Respecting the character we know and love from the comics, he has plenty of legitimate reasons fuelling his rage. Marvel's Wolverine tells a dark story from its early hours (we'll avoid spoilers!), and there's some nasty moments of injustice that have Logan rightfully fired up, ready to rail at powerful authority that relishes doing the wrong thing. He might be the best there is at what he does, but, in a way, what he does is nice – just, not if you're on the receiving end of his bloody wrath.

4. Team X gon' give it to us

There's no X-Men in the world of Marvel's Wolverine (at least, not yet), but there is a Team X, Insomniac's own twist on the unit formed as part of the Weapon X programme in the comics. Here, it appears to be assembled by the sinister Nathaniel Essex, and the game's opening revolves around freeing mutants from Trask Industries' clutches while fighting alongside Sabretooth, Mystique, and Jean Grey. Later moments feature downtime where Logan can learn more about his allies-for-the-moment, including a 'never have I ever' drinking game with Mystique at a bar.

3. Moments of wander

Continuing on from those moments of downtime, while Marvel's Wolverine definitely isn't an open world game like Peter Parker's New York adventures, it's not completely linear, either. Getting some time to explore Madripoor before a mission kicks off, we get to have Wolverine sniff around a fairly wide space for optional but engaging conversations, nab collectibles, and take on challenges. All-out, non-stop action could get exhausting across a long journey, so we're glad for some moments to get some time with Logan off the clock. Here's hoping the final balance feels right.

2. Rising to the challenge

Speaking of optional content, we've had time to play some of Wolverine's side challenges and we're impressed so far. Similar in some ways to Spider-Man's challenges in his games, they put Logan through the paces across combat and traversal challenges, dialing up the pressure to ensure we really get familiar with his controls which – while easy to get to grips with – do have a lot of nuance in the right hands. Even the latter has more to it than we expected, and by the time we master them Logan is dashing about with perfect grace, which almost reminds us of Mirror's Edge (really!).

1. Silent, but deadly

Almost like The Last of Us Part 2, Wolverine is full of rage and violence but doesn't need to unleash it all at once in big, straightforward fights. Instead, he can dip in and out of stealth to strike decisively from the shadows. It makes wide sections particularly delicious to play, as we control Logan's angle of approach and can tear groups of guards apart in a sudden ambush in seconds, before moving on to the next. It really helps us feel like Wolverine, who is a scrappy, brutal fighter, not a hack and slash warrior.

Check out our best Marvel games ranking for more comic adventures!

After the announcement of Marvel's Wolverine, I wondered how much had changed from Insomniac's excellent Spider-Man games. The best part of those previous titles was swinging down digital New York streets, exploring the open world at my own pace. My hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine put those fears to rest. While the foundations built for those Spider-Man games are clearly present here, the action takes a bloody new form that helps Logan's story sing.

"Central to the Wolverine player fantasy is claw combat, in much the same way that web swinging is the central element of Spider-Man player fantasy," creative director Marcus Smith says. "So we developed a lot of systems for our combat that supply the fast, fluid, and lethal combat system that you would expect from Wolverine."

So Insomniac has traded a web-swinging open-world for a mostly linear roller coaster that takes Wolverine on a globe-trotting adventure. It's a game design decision, yes, but one built on the idea of being true to Logan's character – something the developers repeatedly emphasized to me in my interviews with them.

Not-so-friendly neighborhood

"We're telling a Logan story," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed says when I ask about the decision to ditch the open world. "He's so different from Spider-Man in so many different ways. One of the ways is that Logan is not somebody who stays in the same spot for a while. He's not somebody who has a friendly neighborhood. He's not settling down in one location. He's a loner guy in a lot of ways."

"It took us a while to say 'traversal is not an important part of Wolverine as a character,'" director of technology Mike Fitzgerald says. "As we talk about those key things, it's about his claws, his healing factor, his rage and anger, his past and dealing with that. These are some of the core things. The game doesn't have to be everything and have everything. At the same time, you don't want to be frustrating or slow."

While Wolverine isn't about movement, I never found the game to be slow. In fact, in some open-ended areas, I was astounded by how fast I could move. There's a part early in the game where you have to take out some anti-mutant alarms spread out across a bunch of half-constructed buildings, and Wolverine's ability to get around, claw his way up walls, and leap between rooftops is plenty of fun in its own right.

"Some of it's subtle, though, in fun ways," Fitzgerald tells me. "Like, he can climb trees. I mean, he's a wolverine with claws that you go up. But if you walk out on the branch, the branch bends, because he's a very heavy guy. That's a whole system we had to build [...] But Spider-Man walks out on stuff and doesn't affect those things at all. He's very light and nimble. As soon as we put it so the branch was bending under the weight and the leaves were all moving the right way, it's like, 'Oh yeah, this feels like this character and not that other character,' even because of that subtle bit."

Lone wolverine

Even Logan's personality provided its own challenges to the team. As it turns out, it's a lot easier to depict somebody like Peter Parker as a character than it is to make Logan's brooding solitude compelling. "Wolverine's a very internal character," Fitzgerald explains. "Spider-Man is an external character. He quips. He talks. He says what he thinks. Logan [is] quiet, and needs to express with his face and his eyes, and interact with characters. Oftentimes, saying one thing but feeling another. How do we express that through the game? It took a lot of work and effort."

These sorts of considerations permeated the game's development from top to bottom, as the devs repeatedly emphasized in our interview. "For making Wolverine," Reiner-Reed says, "we were constantly asking the question, like, 'Okay, what would Logan do here?' Doesn't matter what another character would do. 'What would our guy do? How would he react to this situation?' I think development-wise, that was what we were always focused on."

It's paid off, at least in the two hours I've played so far. Building Wolverine on the foundation of Spider-Man makes sense, since there's a core of biff-boom-bang action at the heart of every superhero adventure. But Insomniac has smartly torn down and rethought just about every element in a way that makes sense for this new hero.

As we await the launch of Marvel's Wolverine, here are the other upcoming PS5 game you need to know about.

• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is perfect if you want to throw hands across a gorgeous celebration of Marvel comic characters in an excellent fighting system

Here's the 60-second pitch for why you should play Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls this weekend: The developer behind the excellent Dragon Ball FighterZ and Guilty Gear Strive have turned its hand to Marvel to create a 4v4 tag-fighter that's a love letter to the comics, and feels like a fresh take on the beloved combo action in Marvel vs Capcom (without the Capcom, of course). No reskin, this uses the Marvel theming to its fullest, and with a fun story to follow, great training modes, and simple controls, this is one of the easiest big budget fighters to get into without sacrificing depth.

Why play it today?

• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls feels like the next evolution of some great gaming branches, serving as both a Marvel must-play and a next-level expression of the genre. Like Marvel or not, Tokon is simply an excellent fighting game.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is the fighting game equivalent of hero shooter Marvel Rivals. It's the next big budget Marvel game before Marvel's Wolverine. It's a fresh take on the superhero tag fighting of Marvel vs Capcom 3, and the developer's follow-up to Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Visually, Marvel Tokon is a stunner, continuing to build on Arc System Works' anime style that almost looks 2D until the camera whips around to highlight the impact of attacks. A Japanese studio, this take on Marvel is infused with nods to the culture, such as vampire hunter Blade having trained as a samurai, or Iron Man's armor looking almost Kamen Rider-like. But, it's heaving with nods towards Marvel comics as well, feeling like a love letter to the medium right the way down to deep cut references, and menus designed to look like comic book drafts.

As ever, the best time to check out a new fighting game is always as soon as possible. There's just something special about learning a new system alongside a community as everyone figures out how it all works. Knowing Marvel Tokon may appeal to comic or film fans first and foremost, great effort has gone into making the fighting controls easy to use and learn. Though, there's still some wild combos you can pull off once you get used to Tokon in action.

Time commitment:

Marvel Tokon is a great game to fit into your schedule with a low time commitment that's flexible to what you're looking to get out of it. But, don't be surprised if evenings disappear in a blur of superhero clashes.

Single-player episode content is split into separate chapters, so story content will take six or so hours to beat, with plenty of challenges and arcade modes on top. But, there's no need to play solo at all. Through online or with friends, matches themselves can take only a couple of minutes (or seconds if you're unlucky). This is a 4v4 fighter, but all your characters share a health bar, so few matches will feel like wars of attrition like you can get in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

This is an online game you'll want to keep coming back to, especially as new content is added over time through DLC fighters.

Play Marvel Tokon if you love:

Skip Marvel Tokon if you want:

One thing to know:

While Marvel Tokon has solid solo content for a fighting game, this is a genre that often lives or dies on multiplayer staying power. Whether that's matchmaking online through ranking queues, exploring room lobbies, or playing party modes; or beating up your pals locally or connected, you'll get the most out of this with other people. Don't forget that it's all good to play against players matched to your level and have fun that way. You don't need to be top of the leader boards to have a good time.

A moment you'll remember:

Batting away your opponent with the tag-based counter system and then managing to respond with a proper combo for the first time. Fighting games have a weird bell-shaped learning curve where the more you learn the worse you can feel, but nothing beats when it all comes together and you realize the squad of characters you love to play actually kind of works.

The final verdict:

In the words of Alan Wen, who penned our Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review, this is "a stunning comeback for superhero fighters, essential for Marvel and genre fans alike". Superhero fans will find plenty to love in this gorgeous but fresh take on familiar faces, the fighting game curious will find Arc System Works' friendliest combat system to date, and fighting game veterans will cackle as they air-combo opponents into oblivion with Goblin Glider cancel combos.

So, where can you play it?

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is developed by Arc System Works but published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, so you'll currently only find it on PC and PS5. It is not part of any PS Plus subscription tiers at the moment.

How to get started with Marvel Tokon:

On launch, Marvel Tokon pulls you into a well-designed tutorial that will show you the basics, giving you the option to continue with more advanced training once completed. After that, you can continue to practice in the story or arcade modes, or hop online where you'll have to complete 10 casual matches before you can join Ranked matchmaking. For the most part, though, grab a controller and dive into matches! There's no better way to learn.

Have your say:

Just want more comic fun? Check out our best Marvel games ranking!

Story-driven action-adventure games have a special place in my gaming time, because my wife and I have been bonding over them for years. What started as a desire to show her why I was so obsessed with Metal Gear Solid eventually became a couples' tradition, where she'd sit in and we'd enjoy the twists and turns of games like Uncharted and Yakuza together. When Insomniac announced Marvel's Wolverine, I instantly figured it'd be perfect for our gaming time together.

That thought was instantly wiped away when I saw how violent Wolverine is going to be. I can't blame Insomniac for wanting to be true to the character's violent lore, but my partner has an intense blood phobia. Even a quick glimpse of the goopy gore that permeates the game's trailers would likely be enough to push her to the edge of a panic attack.

So when Insomniac announced that it was introducing a new accessibility option for Wolverine which will allow you to toggle off blood and gore, my interest was more than academic. Alongside my hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine, I had to get the developers' insights into implementing this option and finding new ways to cater to players – and watchers – with diverse needs.

What I do isn't very nice

While I don't have direct access to the violence options in my hands-on, creative director Marcus Smith demonstrates them ahead of my demo. "Yes, we are making a Wolverine game," he says. "Yes, it is extremely bloody. But we also understand that not everybody has the same level of squeamishness where it comes to blood. So we have settings where you can disable blood, disable gore, disable [dismemberment]."

He shows a screenshot of a character on the wrong end of Wolverine's claws. This enemy soldier is spattered with blood, with gore shooting absurdly from the spots where you'd expect. In the next screenshot, everything's the same – all the visual and emotional content is there – but the red stuff is gone. It's not a haphazard edit. It genuinely looks like a version of the game that was targeting a T for Teen rating from the start. There are other content toggles, too, like an option to turn off profanity if you simply want to make the game's dialog a bit more family friendly.

Offering these kinds of options is a big technical challenge since the gore itself is built from "a very complex set of systems," according to head of technology Mike Fitzgerald. "The way it affects characters is one thing. The way it affects environments is another thing. The way it sprays out of the characters is another thing. A lot of cinematics have custom authored blood that's independent [to what] someone very carefully painted onto a character or object. Finding all those places, making them all relate into the accessibility system the right way, took quite a bit of work, effort, and testing."

No surprises

When I first heard about these sorts of accessibility options, my instant fear was that not every edge case would be accounted for. There are, after all, cutscenes where characters get beheaded, or we see Wolverine get shredded to the bone by gunfire. In cases like those, the game simply blurs out scenes with content you don't want to see.

People like my wife have "a real reaction to that stuff," Fitzgerald acknowledges. "We don't want to surprise anyone with it when they think they have it turned off."

A part of me does wonder if these gracious nods to accessibility might undercut something of the game's bite. "The tone of this game is a bit darker, more mature than recent Insomniac games," Smith says, "and the reason for that is because we need to stay true to these characters. They have lived long and complex lives, and the only way to represent them with authenticity is to do so unflinchingly." Is a blood toggle a flinch?

"Wolverine is a brutal character," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed acknowledges. "That's a part of the DNA of Wolverine. It is rated mature as far as topics, and as you mentioned, as far as violence, but Logan is not somebody who is ever glorifying violence. He's not cutting up people for violence' sake. He's doing it because he got into some situation. He has to defend somebody who can't defend themselves. He has to fight [against] injustice."

That distinction, I think, is why letting people play a substantially less violent version of Wolverine makes sense, even within the themes of the character. This Logan lives in a brutal world, yes, but his own brutality exists as a shield to protect others from having to endure the same hardships. And personally? I'm just glad my time playing Wolverine won't be as lonely as I feared.

We'll keep you up to date with every upcoming PS5 game worth knowing about.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has managed to sell a total of 485,000 copies across PS5 and Steam in the week since it launched, but Alinea's head of market analysis Rhys Elliott guesses the 4v4 tag team fighter could have done much better than that if Steam reviewers didn't hate its PC port so much.

The game itself is great. Guilty Gear Strive developer Arc System Works predictably infused Marvel Tokon with its characteristic, ostentatious combat style and vibrant art, leading writer Alan Wen to say in GamesRadar+'s four-and-a-half-star Marvel Tokon review that the game makes you "so convinced that it's 2D animation of the highest caliber until you launch an opponent or execute a screen-filling super skill." Notably, Wen played the game on PS5. Many of Marvel Tokon's Steam reviews, instead, fixate on the fact that the game requires a PSN account to play on PC, and then it crashes, and they bemoan missing Linux support, which makes Marvel Tokon incompatible with the Steam Deck.

Marvel Tokon's overall Mixed Steam rating is complicated in this sense – many of its 2,658 total negative reviews have no problem with Arc System Works's actual game. But they see Marvel Tokon as a representation of everything currently wrong with PlayStation, which is now experiencing the beginning of the three million years of bad karma it's earned for its decision to stop producing physical game discs.

A popular negative Marvel Tokon review with over 1,000 "helpful" ratings on Steam explains it this way: "As much as I adore this game, i will call out the blatant bullsh*t Sony pulled to make TOKON on PC the way that it is... My review will remain negative until the game is optimized enough for all users that can run the minimum reqs, as well as Linux support at some point…"

So, yeah, according to Alinea, Marvel Tokon moved 485,000 copies and made $33 million. It should be a full-fat comeback story for Marvel fighting games, a niche previously made boring by the underwhelming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite in 2017, but Elliott emphasizes that 485,000 copies sold is a minimum.

He recognizes Marvel Tokon's Steam launch "was marred by performance issues, bugs, intrusive DRM, and no Linux support." And "the Steam review score is pretty telling," Elliott continues, "at under 50% positive as I write this. It's just 19% positive among those who played under an hour, suggesting a wave of bounce-and-refund players."

"Arc has been patching hard, and many issues are already fixed, but first impressions are sticky," he concludes. "Tokon might have sold closer to 1M if the Steam stuff hadn't been such an issue. Word of mouth was cut short." Huh, it sounds like prioritizing people over the mirage of fast, infinite growth is important. Who knew.

Sony killing PlayStation discs will make PS Store prices cheaper, former Square Enix financial exec says, and you only need to look at Steam to understand why.

It took Hollywood decades to learn the truth about superheroes: the origin stories are usually the most boring part. Insomniac Games was clued into that fact from the start with the Marvel's Spider-Man games, which deliberately avoided showing us Peter Parker's fateful meeting with a radioactive Spider. It seems they're taking a similar approach with Marvel's Wolverine.

"During our story, Logan already has adamantium infused to his bones," creative director Marcus Smith explains at a preview event for Marvel's Wolverine. "He does not remember how that happened, why it happened, and we are not really covering it because we're not doing an origin story."

During my hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine, I saw the very start of the game, which does open with a brief flashback. There, we see Logan in the woods, seemingly feral, when he meets Nathaniel Essex – a character whose name will ring a calamitous bell for X-Men fans. The scene is just a few moments, and we quickly fast-forward apparent years to the actual action.

There's a sense of history to the characters, as they regularly reference past events and conflicts, but it's all flavor that makes the world seem bigger. If you have history with Wolverine in the comics or other media, you'll have a pretty clear picture of what these events look like – if not, it'll just be there to make the characters seem richer.

It's the exact same approach we saw Insomniac take in Marvel's Spider-Man, which references Spidey's origins and history in ways that make sense and add to the story, but never explicitly spells out that story. Perhaps the most important part is that it lets players just start being a superhero from the second they load up the game – whether we're talking about Peter Parker or James Logan Howlett, there's no need to make people wait for the fun part.

These are the upcoming PS5 games you need to have on your radar.

There's a moment in the Marvel's Wolverine story trailer released toward the end of July where we see the camera pull back behind Jean Grey as she enters a dance hall. To my eye, it seemed like an obvious tease of a playable sequence featuring Jean, but looks can be deceiving – Insomniac tells me in no uncertain terms that Wolverine himself is the game's only playable character.

When I alluded to that moment with Jean Grey in the trailer in an interview with senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed and head of technology Mike Fitzgerald, they both registered a bit of genuine confusion, before they both told me, "Wolverine is our only playable character."

That'll likely be a relief to many players of Insomniac's previous superhero games. I never hated the Mary Jane stealth sections in the Spider-Man series as much as other people seemed to, but they're unequivocally the least exciting bits of those games. Insomniac going all in on the game's central hero sounds like a good thing to me.

My hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine was still filled with loads of side characters, and many of them do have a role to play not just in the story, but the gameplay. In my demo, there were big combat sections where Wolverine is accompanied by Sabretooth or Mystique, who'll dynamically join in with your combos for little team-up moves to knock out the bad guys.

Some similar interactions with Jean were shown in the public gameplay reveal, and "there's more of that," Fitzgerald explains. "There's definitely the team vibe in that sense. But we were really focusing on Wolverine as a playable character and making sure we nailed that."

For more, check out all our Marvel's Wolverine Big Preview coverage.

Insomniac built the adamantium skeleton for Marvel's Wolverine with its Spider-Man games. The upcoming PS5 game clearly builds on the combat, the cinematic presentation, and even the progression systems of those previous titles. But after spending two hours playing Marvel's Wolverine, touring Insomniac's Los Angeles headquarters, and speaking to some of the developers bringing the game to life, it's clear that this is more than a simple reskin of Spider-Man. James Logan Howlett's burning heart beats at the center of it all.

"One thing we're really proud about at the studio is shipping games," head of technology Mike Fitzgerald tells me. "This is our fifth title on the PlayStation 5. We're really proud of that. Part of that is knowing how to build on prior games effectively. If we'd taken a Spider-Man game and put a Wolverine character model in, that wouldn't feel right. It wouldn't be right for the character. It wouldn't be fulfilling the player fantasy for the fans. So it's about building carefully on what we have and then rethinking a whole lot of the fundamentals."

So the flippy, acrobatic combat of Spider-Man – which, itself, echoes Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham series – has slowed down, with a closer camera perspective and more tightly-packed enemies. The violence is more extreme. The story is darker. And, most obviously, we're now following a linear, globe-trotting adventure rather than exploring a singular open world.

Rage against the killing machines

"Throughout development," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed explains, "any decision we're making, we're trying to go: 'Is this right for Wolverine? Is this telling a Logan-centric story? Is this the best way we can do this to make the player feel like they're playing as Wolverine?'"

Nowhere is this intent more obvious than with the Rage system. As you fight, striking enemies and parrying their attacks, you build up a meter representing Wolverine's bestial anger. Once it's maxed out, the color drains from the scene, Wolverine powers up, and you can launch instant-kill takedowns by pulling both triggers at once. The meter quickly drains once you reach this state, but you can keep it going longer by continuing to kill.

This system really incentivizes you to be aggressive, constantly escalating the speed with which you're taking down the bad guys, perfectly in line with your character's own overflowing rage. It's introduced with a great little moment in the game, where Logan's anger at seeing his fellow mutants mistreated boils over, and you're given control with maximum Rage to rip the perpetrators to shreds. If you've seen any of the trailers for Wolverine, you'll know just how bloody this game can get. But, importantly, Logan's violence feels like an outpouring of his desire to protect others.

"He's not bloodthirsty," Fitzgerald says. "He's not a sadist. He's not reveling in the violence that he's doing. We want the game to reflect that as well. The game itself isn't like 'look at how bloody and gross we can be.' It's more like this is a natural consequence of who this character is and what he grapples with over the course of the game."

The Rage system also accounts for Wolverine's superhuman healing. You do have a traditional health meter, but as long as you've got some Rage in the tank, you can get back up and keep fighting. Die without any Rage to keep you going, though, and you'll have to restart from a checkpoint. It may not be 100% true to the specifics of Logan's mutant ability, but it does keep the spirit of those powers intact and faithfully represents the character's relentless nature.

"You wouldn't see another character with that set of abilities or mechanics," Reiner-Reed says. "This is uniquely Logan."

This is no origin story

The start of the game shows a brief flashback to when Logan was living a seemingly feral life in the wilderness, just as he meets a mysterious figure promising a home for mutants. But this isn't Professor X talking about a home for gifted youngsters. This is Nathaniel Essex, a character with a lengthy X-Men comic history as the villain Mister Sinister.

But if Essex is going to become the villain of this story, that's going to be a late game twist. Insomniac dragged out the ultimate heel turn of Otto Octavius as Doctor Octopus in the 2018 Spider-Man game, which could be the blueprint for what's happening here. For now, though, the game flashes forward, with Wolverine rejoining Mystique, Jean Grey, and Sabretooth as part of Team X to rescue Essex from the anti-mutant extremist Bolivar Trask.

What follows is something of a superpowered D-Day invasion, where I charge up a muddy hill toward a massive fort, slicing through Trask's minions as I go. While there's plenty of action and bombast, this is very much the game's tutorial, as I'm introduced to the basics of combat. The true depths of the Rage system haven't unlocked yet, but even here the combat feels meaty and rewarding.

My favorite move is pushing triangle to leap forward and quickly close the distance with an enemy. It's not entirely dissimilar to Spider-Man's Web Strike, but at this closer combat scale, it reminds me of how Batman would automatically leap between opponents in the Arkham games. Here, it's an active ingredient in the combat soup, something to stay engaged with as the rhythm of parry, dodge, slash slash slash carries on.

I find myself surprised by how quickly I can get around the game's bigger areas. Wolverine can't use web shooters to speed through these levels, but he can still move. Logan runs quickly, can climb up walls, and leap leg-shattering distances. There's an open-ended area early on where I have to take out a series of mutant-detecting alarms guarded by patrolling soldiers. It feels like an absolute playground, thanks largely to how quickly I can move through it, and how easy it is switch between brutal, stalking stealth and full-blown combat.

I'm also introduced to each of the game's major cast members, but notably, this isn't their first meeting. Nor do I hear much about Wolverine's backstory, and that's very much by design. "Logan already has adamantium infused to his bones," says creative director Marcus Smith. "He does not remember how that happened, why it happened, and we are not really covering it because we're not doing an origin story." There are already plenty of places where you can learn of Wolverine's origins, and having the specifics shrouded in mystery here helps build gravity and intrigue around his relationships.

Later in the demo, I'm whisked forward to a part near the end of the game's first act. Here, I get the culmination of all the combat tricks I've learned up to this point as I take on a massive Sentinel prototype. It's a multi-stage boss fight where I've got to wear down its various weak points to deal big damage.

It's familiar stuff if you've, uh, ever played a video game before, but it's a great little challenge. In fact, it's the only time I die outside of a later optional challenge room – and it sneaks in a few unique mechanics, like an ability to call in a sniper shot from Mystique with a tap of the R1 button, which stuns the giant machine so I can get a few extra licks in.

Madripoor me another

Eventually, Logan ends up in Madripoor, and here the game allows me a bit of a breather. The story slows down as I wander a small bar and nearby stretch of street while Logan meets up with his allies to discuss everything that's transpired. There are fun little Easter eggs to discover here – a playing card hinting at Gambit wandering around this universe, for example – but the real treat is the character interactions.

I'm impressed by just how convincing the storytelling and character performances are. There's a wonderful little moment between Logan and Mystique where they play a round of "never have I ever," as our hero is grilled on topics like lost loves. I get to choose what parts Logan drinks to, and relish the chance to get inside the character's head and imagine his past and what's brought him to this point.

There's a haunted sense of history to how Logan and the crew refer to their past adventures and the mistakes they've made along the way, and it works in part because the story is so well-delivered. The devs say getting this right was a monumental task. "Cinematics is something where there's not, 'Hey, this is just the cinematics department, and they take care [of it],'" Reiner-Reed explains. "It takes everybody. There's lighting, there's artists, there's performance and optimization, there's animation, mocap."

This Madripoor section is also my first opportunity to properly explore, finding collectables here and there that tie into the game's various upgrade systems. I'm able to unlock a few new abilities – both passive buffs and active attacks that run on a cooldown in combat – and check out some additional suits for Wolverine, but I don't have much space to actually dive into those systems before my time with the demo ends. For now, it feels more like a teaser for the fact that, yes, there will be reasons to explore and go off the beaten path in the full game.

There are also additional challenges to take on in a sort of dreamy cabin space that will apparently appear at various points across the story. Inside, Logan can interact with various totems to take on optional timed challenges, like fighting hordes of soldiers in a snowy battlefield or racing through an abstract, nearly psychedelic collection of parkour obstacles. I certainly wasn't expecting to be reminded of Mirror's Edge during Wolverine, but the abstracted arenas for the traversal challenges put me in a similar frame of mind. These time trials are fun enough, but those that I played were pretty simple and easy. I was able to get not just a gold rating, but platinum after just a couple of tries.

The combat challenge I took on, however, really put me through the ringer. Here, I had to manage an array of goons pelting me with fists and bullets while I whittle down a big, muscular brute with parries, dodges, and strikes – then I had to do it again, with a second wave of foes, all within a strict time limit. I failed this one over and over, but I had a great time doing it, and really learning the fight made my eventual success feel pretty sweet. The solution? Rage. Building up that rage is essential.

Before playing Marvel's Wolverine, I was afraid I would miss so much from Insomniac's previous Spider-Man games. Sure, the combat and missions in those games were fun enough, but the truly excellent part was swinging through the streets of New York City at breakneck speeds and digging for little odd jobs and side missions along the way.

Going hands-on with the game completely erased those fears. Insomniac has repurposed the fundamentals of its previous games here, yes, but it's done so in a way that feels appropriate for Logan. The turn from friendly neighborhood wall-crawler to this brooding new hero makes all the difference.

More from our interviews with the Marvel's Wolverine developers and further impressions from our hands-on time are still to come. For now, here are the upcoming PS5 games you need to have on your radar.

PlayStation and Sucker Punch have announced that Ghost of Yotei is getting a major DLC expansion called Echoes of Sekigahara. It launches on October 1 alongside other new content and Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition, which includes all previously released updates and will be available on a physical disc.

"Ghost of Yōtei: Echoes of Sekigahara is our new narrative expansion. Split between the present day and flashbacks to Atsu’s time on the mainland, you’ll meet Nagato, a figure from Atsu’s past who has arrived in Ezo," Sony explains on the PlayStation Blog.

"In the present, you’ll explore a previously unseen valley once inhabited by The Snake and his gang of loyal followers, the Vipers. In the past, you’ll experience Atsu’s time in the Battle of Sekigahara and a key moment in her life before she returned home for her quest for vengeance. You’ll meet new enemies and find new heavy weapons, new armor sets, new dyes, and more."

October 1 will also see the launch of Most Wanted, a "single-player combat survival mode" which the devs describe as "our spin on a roguelike." Each run will see you taking down enemies to earn perks and unlock new playable characters. The devs plan to announce more details on both expansions ahead of launch.

Both of these DLC add-ons are part of the $70 Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition. If you already own the base game, you can upgrade to Complete Edition for $14.99 USD.

The Complete Edition also includes the content that was previously included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, as well as "new tracks for Watanabe Mode," alongside "new photo mode stamps, additional cosmetics for New Game+, and new Trophies for both Echoes of Sekigahara and Most Wanted."

Additionally, a free update will launch on October 1 with a transmog feature, allowing you to equip gear for its aesthetics without being stuck with its stats. This patch will also include the "Beauty of Yotei" mode, which offers what amounts to an in-game screensaver showcasing digital Japan.

The YouTube description for the trailer also confirms that the Complete Edition will have a "physical version available October 1." While Sony is seemingly fully committed to its decision to end physical discs in 2028, it appears the company is treating physical games as normal until then. I'm just hoping that the physical Complete Edition will, indeed, be complete, with all that DLC and add-on content actually included on the disc rather than a download code.

These are the upcoming PS5 games you need to know about.

While PlayStation will end discs for new releases in 2028, most of its major first-party releases still seem to be launching on discs in the meantime. That includes Marvel's Wolverine – but the limited edition console Sony's releasing alongside the upcoming PS5 is set to be digital only.

Sony revealed the Marvel's Wolverine Limited Edition PS5 console and accessories today on the PlayStation Blog. At a price of $649.99 / £569.99 / €649.99, you're getting a digital PS5 model cast in the black and bright yellow of Wolverine's trademark spandex, with a screaming Logan drawn on the side of the console.

I can't decide how I feel about the overall look of the console, but I do like the detail on the claw marks running down the side of the machine. Those are made up of transparent plastic, allowing you to see the PS5's innards at work, just as if the Canadian anti-hero had really cut a little viewing hole in the side of the machine.

The price is slightly more than the standalone console, but it does come with a download code for the game, so you're getting a slight deal here. Unless, of course, you want Marvel's Wolverine on disc, but Sony is willing to throw you a $75 bone if you're in that camp.

If you already have a PS5 and want some X-Men flavor, you can also just buy console covers for the same effect at a price of $74.99 / £64.99 / €74.99. These include parts for digital only models alongside those for real consoles with disc drives. There's a separate cover set for PS5 Pro consoles, as well, which also comes in an "Adamantium" silver color if you don't care for the yellow.

This is all pretty standard stuff for a limited edition console released alongside a major new game, but given all the scrutiny around Sony's decision to drop support for discs, players are having about the response you'd expect to this digital-only console. "Wolverine would have fought for physical media rights," as YouTube commenter SolidSmiech puts it.

Here are the upcoming PS5 games you need to know about.

Stop Killing Games has joined an ongoing legal effort in the Netherlands pushing against PlayStation's alleged "monopoly" over digital game sales on its platform. While the lawsuit primarily concerns digital game pricing, the end of physical media has exacerbated worries over Sony's ability to fix its own prices.

A Dutch consumer rights organization called Stichting Massaschade & Consument has been preparing this lawsuit since 2024 as part of its "Fair PlayStation" campaign. "Sony has a monopoly on digital game sales on PlayStation," organizers argue in a video breaking down their stance. "Your PlayStation is designed so you can only buy digital games through Sony's own store. And once Sony stops selling physical games in 2028, you won't have any choice at all."

Today, both Stop Killing Games and community resource DoesItPlay? have announced that they're backing the Fair PlayStation campaign. They've reposted SM&C's video with the title "It's time to sue Sony, join us."

"We're putting our full weight behind SM&C's case, with the Dutch court," the groups explain in the video description. "SM&C has to show the court it actually represents gamers, not just claims to. Our support backs that up globally. Every Dutch gamer who signs on backs it up directly."

PlayStation's ability to set its own digital prices is a big part of why I'm so concerned about the end of discs. On PC, where digital has been standard for decades, there are at least a variety of different stores that can compete against each other to offer different prices on digital games. On PlayStation, the prices are set purely by Sony and their third-party partners.

The same issues obviously hold for Xbox and Nintendo, as well, but neither of those platforms have yet announced that they're going to stop selling physical media. "You end up paying way more" on digital PlayStation purchases, SM&C argues, even without the physical media market driving prices down. "On average, up to 47%. It's basically a Sony tax, and that's clearly against the law."

"The end of physical discs removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price," SM&C said last month in response to Sony's announcement about the end of disc production. "No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it."

Up to this point, Stop Killing Games has largely focused on campaigns to ensure games remain accessible to players even after servers for them shut down. Notably, the EU commission ruled against Stop Killing Games' biggest effort back in June, but it seems the group is expanding its remit to help support other digital consumer rights efforts. Maybe the all-digital future really is inevitable, but legal challenges will be the only way to ensure digital purchases offer the same sorts of rights as physical ones.

With GTA 6 digital only, Take-Two boss says discs "don't really make sense" – "if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally?"