This Week's TOP Gaming News Stories

According to pre-orders, Sony’s latest expensive gamble seems to be doing rather well. Real gamers however, don’t seem to be the ones scooping up these powerful new versions of the PS5 as scalpers worldwide are securing the preorders and then reselling them for exorbitant prices elsewhere.

Well, Japan has come up with a rather ingenious solution to this. Potential buyers need to login to their PSN accounts to prove they've logged at least 30 hours playtime between February 2014 and September 2024. With gamers worldwide reporting scalpers to ebay for reselling the 30th anniversary PS5 Pro for upwards of $10,000 on the site, this is hopefully a step in the right direction to weed out potential scalpers and bots and once again be “For the Players”.

After the resounding disappointment of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, fans had given up on the franchise to make a return. However, in 2020, Activision gave fans hope of a half-pipe return with remakes of Tony Hawk 1&2 and the potential for more remakes to come. This seemed to be where the story ended, as Activision moved developer Vicarious Visions onto the Call of Duty machine to grind out more Warzone content.

And yet, fans might have something to hope for once again, directly from The Birdman Tony Hawk’s Instagram. In celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary, Tony Hawk confirmed he’s in talks with Activision, teasing fans with the closing statement “I’m not supposed to tease anything, but there will be a future”. Whether this means more remakes of the earlier entries like Tony Hawk 3&4 or even the much loved Underground entries, the fact there’s any hope at all is enough to make fans do a 720.

Due to the colossal failure that was Concord, many have forgotten that Fntastic’s The Day Before currently holds the record for fastest video game delisting in history, going dark only 4 days after launch. In addition to closing down the game, Fntastic also announced they were shutting down their studio entirely citing a lack of funds.

But now, somehow, Fntastic has announced their return via X with the caption, “Everyone deserves a second chance” along with their new game Escape Factory. It is clearly a Fall Guys clone and the Kickstarter campaign is asking for $15,000 to complete the game. Proclaiming themselves Fntatstic 2.0, obviously NO ONE should donate any money to this next project. So far, almost no one has, with barely a handful of donations and Fntastic claiming without fan backing, they’ll be unable to return to the gaming industry. And we are 100% okay with that.

Longtime Yakuza or Like A Dragon fans have finally gotten their first proper look at the live action adaptation for Amazon Prime, and its near perfect recreation of Kamurocho. Based on the insanely long running and popular video game series of the same name, it follows fan favorite character Kazuma Kiryu and his glorious suit chronicling his rise through the Yakuza. The series is taking a more realistic approach to the games but still looks to promise loads of violence, brawls, and no shortage of crime related activities. While it's unknown if the beloved Karaoke sections will be making an appearance, fans won’t have to wait long to find out as Like A Dragon Yakuza premieres on Amazon Prime on October 24th, 2025.

Bethesda’s Starfield might not have been the revolutionary experience many longtime Bethesda fans were hoping for but it still offered a decent time exploring the galaxy between loading screens. With the release of the title’s first major expansion Shattered Space, Bethesda has scaled back the scope of the universe and offers players a more classic Bethesda experience.

Rather than relying on procedurally generated worlds and quests, Shattered Space feels much more hand crafted and much closer to the golden days of Bethesda at its best. If you didn’t enjoy the base Starfield, Shattered Space will be unlikely to change your mind, but it’s enough to give fans hope that Bethesda can still make quality content. Now all they need to do is abandon their decades old engine and they’ll truly be on the right track for the future.

It’s no secret Ubisoft has been in dire straits for quite a while. Following the announcement of their flagship holiday title being delayed from November to February 2025, the more we learn, the worse it gets. Not only did Star Wars Outlaws severely underperform, reportedly only selling one million units worldwide, it would seem that Skull & Bones was even more of a colossal failure and brought Ubisoft nearly to the brink of bankruptcy.

Reportedly the developers behind AC Shadows had been begging Ubisoft to delay the title for quite some time before the studio finally agreed, citing more time needed to polish the game and to ensure better historical accuracy after many fans and scholars had pointed out numerous inaccuracies in the game’s marketing material. Supposedly these issues stem from historical experts being brought in to consult on the title far later in development than usual, despite the game reportedly being in development since 2018.

Alongside numerous studio closures and layoffs within Ubisoft, as well as the possibility that AC Shadows could be delayed even further, if rumors prove to be true, AND shareholders demanding to hold the developer accountable for their stocks and profits plummeting to an all time low, things may only get worse for Ubisoft without the possibility of getting better.

Another week, another round of layoffs. Microsoft announced that they intend to layoff roughly 400 Activision employees and developers before the end of the year, specifically from Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV teams. Just this year, Microsoft has already laid off more than 1900 employees following their acquisition of Activision/Blizzard for $69 billion dollars finalized in October 2023.

Phil Spencer released a typical corporate word salad response to the layoffs claiming they were necessary for the company’s future and long term success. With countless layoffs and studio closures becoming a weekly occurrence across the industry, including Sony’s recent round of layoffs earlier this year, the games industry remains one of the most profitable forms of media in the world, but now also one with the lowest job security.

This isn’t the end of Blizzard in the news however. The studio is reportedly once again attempting to create a shooter set within the Starcraft universe. This isn’t the first time the studio has tried to branch out within the wildly popular Starcraft franchise. Two decades ago, Blizzard announced Starcraft: Ghost for the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube which would have been a stealth 3rd person shooter experience set within the Starcraft lore.

However, the game never materialized despite strong showings and was placed on “indefinite hold” before ultimately being canceled. While it’s unknown if this title will fare any better, it does at least have some solid talent behind it with Dan Hay who previously worked on the Far Cry series at the helm. Time will tell, but we’re always excited for some more Starcraft.

The father of the stealth genre, Hideo Kojima just keeps adding more projects to his already full plate. While attending the Tokyo Game Show, Kojima not only showed off new gameplay and cutscenes for his upcoming PS5 exclusive Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, he also unveiled the game’s wildly ambitious new photo mode.

Making incredible use of Kojima’s unhinged genius and the Decima Engine, Death Stranding 2’s photo mode isn’t just a way to show off the game’s impressive graphics but also ties directly into the gameplay according to Kojima himself. Showcasing various characters posing for the camera and also enacting numerous little skits, players will be able to pose multiple characters at once for group photos. Given the game’s themes of connections, this could be how the game’s photo mode will tie into the overall narrative. Similar to the “Likes” system in the original Death Stranding, players will likely be rewarded for these impromptu photo shoots with their relationships deepening with Sam the more photos they take together. And while we didn’t get a solid release date, Kojima is confident the game will still release in 2025 despite only being “30-40% complete”.

Kojima also announced he would be doing a 10 minute weekly radio show on TBS radio in which he would be discussing a new topic every week. This comes after Kojima entered what he calls the “third phase” of Kojima Productions after signing with Hollywood talent agency WME with plans to expand his creative vision to anime, movies and television. Given the creator’s affinity for movies and his cinematic approach to storytelling in his games, it’s more surprising it took him this long to finally make it to Hollywood. With other projects already in the works such as his upcoming horror title OD and his return to “tactical espionage action” with Physint, Kojima proclaimed he “can’t die” until the third phase of his projects are complete.