Latest Multi-platform Game News & Updates
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'Fortnite'’s Most Prized Collectible Is Easier Than Ever to Get, but for a Limited Time
Sprites collected in Chapter 7 Season 3 will be usable next Fortnite season, so players won't want to miss this week's Sprite-catching event.
Disney Has 9 Gaming Franchises That Have Generated $1 Billion+ At Retail, Including Kingdom Hearts
Disney has outlined just how powerful and important video games are to the company's future. In a blog post ahead of D23--where Kingdom Hearts news is expected(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kingdom-hearts-4-news-could-come-sooner-than-you-think/)--the company's gaming boss, Sean Shoptaw, revealed that games are now a "fundamental part of the broader entertainment landscape." He said(https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/games-next-chapter/) Disney has reaped the rewards, with nine of its gaming franchises grossing more than $1 billion at retail so far. "So, it’s about telling truly original stories that really are unique to this medium, specifically," he said. Some of these include Kingdom Hearts and Marvel Strike Force. Shoptaw added that more than half of the nine franchises have only appeared in the past 12 years. Disney runs multiple game outfits, including Disney Pixar Games, Marvel Games, Lucasfilm Games, and 20th Century Games, just to name a few, all of which live under the broader Disney Games banner. Disney Games has reached about $3.5 billion in consumer spend annually for the past four years, exceeding $4 billion in the past fiscal year alone. Shoptaw said this helps hammer home how gaming will be a "key part of Disney's storytelling strategy in the present and the future." He added that Disney isn't necessarily all that interested in doing things like movie tie-ins, which were popular in the '90s and early 2000s. Instead, he said Disney wants to create original games that tell new stories, with Shoptaw citing Marvel's Wolverine(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wolverine-uses-blind-rage-and-violence-to-make-combat-feel-authentic/) as a prime example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0llQ8tuYRU One of Disney's biggest bets in gaming in recent years has been through its partnership with Epic Games and Fortnite. Disney has invested more than $1.5 billion into Epic Games, and Shoptaw said its partnership is a "really important one." “Our partnership with Epic is a really important one,” Shoptaw said. “What Epic has built with Fortnite has really created one of the most important social entertainment platforms in the world, and certainly for us, we see a ton of opportunity to bring our great characters, stories, and worlds into that universe and build something truly unique to Disney.” "Our ambition is to create something truly transformational. A space that people can come play, watch, and create, and a space that we bring all of Disney together in one connected universe." Disney has brought many of its franchises to Fortnite already, and its Simpsons collaboration was particularly successful. Looking ahead, Disney is planning even more in Fortnite, reportedly including an Arc Raiders-style game(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-adding-an-arc-raiders-style-game-with-disney-characters-report/1100-6539344/). Disney's new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, is a big believer in games and has suggested gaming could be Disney's next big growth-driver(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/disney-ceo-on-why-gaming-could-be-the-companys-next-big-growth-driver/1100-6539803/), after the company's stock price has been flat over the past decade. Some have theorized that Disney could buy Epic and Fortnite(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/disney-should-buy-fortnite-and-epic-games-former-exec-says/1100-6539085/) to help grow the business, but nothing has materialized as of yet. Disney was, at one point in history, a developer of games itself with its Disney Interactive Studios label. This unit of the entertainment giant produced a number of games over the years, including the Disney Infinity "toys-to-life" series. However, Disney shuttered Disney Interactive Studios and now focuses more on licensing. Former CEO Bob Iger spoke candidly about Disney’s struggles(https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/bob-iger-disney-isnt-particularly-good-at-publishing-games-1183088/) making and publishing games internally, admitting, “We haven’t been particularly good…”
Disney Reveals Kingdom Hearts Is Now a Billion-dollar Game Franchise
With Kingdom Hearts 4 news possibly coming at D23 fan expo this weekend, Disney reveals how profitable the series is
High On Life Is Coming To VR, And Yes, You Can Stroke Your Weird Guns
High on Life(https://www.gamespot.com/games/high-on-life/) is coming to a new platform, as the irreverent first-person shooter with talking alien guns is getting a VR port. Announced during the VR Games Showcase, this new version of High on Life will launch for Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, and SteamVR headsets in 2027. Originally developed by Squanch Games, the VR port of High on Life is being handled by Flat2VR Studios. The developer says that it is essentially rebuilding the game so that it can take advantage of VR tech, allowing players to interact with their talking--and opinionated--guns. The trailer below shows off some of these new features, like being able to stroke your weapons and feed them, and we bet they'll have something to say about that. "As we're adding all of these fun, manual VR interactions, it's really important that they make sense in gameplay and that they're maintaining the fast, fluid, and powerful feeling of combat," High on Life VR game director Emily O'Neil said in the reveal trailer. https://youtu.be/EQziBgQgrJI First released in 2022, High on Life saw players take on an alien cartel that invaded Earth and turned the populace into recreational drugs. As an up-and-coming bounty hunter armed with Gatliens--sentient guns that could be used to solve all kinds of problems--the game was a hit thanks to its weird sense of humor, fun gameplay, and an extremely Australian knife(https://high-on-life.fandom.com/wiki/Knifey) hellbent on stabbing everything. A sequel was released earlier this year, but reviews were lukewarm(https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/high-on-life-2-review-skate-n-gun/1900-6418463/), thanks in part to various technical issues that hampered its launch. VR fans can also look forward to a port of System Shock from Flat2VR Studios. Not much was revealed about this project, but the teaser trailer(https://youtu.be/w-baA9y0Ld0) suggested that the VR version will be based on the superb 2023 remake(https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-best-pc-games-of-2023/2900-4984/) of the cult-classic 1994 game.
2011 Lord Of The Rings Game Didn’t Get A “Fair Shake” Launching Near Skyrim, Former WB Boss Says
Christian Allen, who was on the leadership team at Warner Bros. Games when 2011's The Lord of the Rings: War in the North came out, has commented on the recent re-release(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/2011-the-lord-of-the-rings-game-gets-surprise-re-release-today/), saying he's happy the game is coming back because it didn't get a "fair shake" upon its original release. Why's that? He said he "argued vociferously" not to release it at the same time as Bethesda's iconic RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. "15 years ago I argued vociferously not to release this up against Skyrim, as it wouldn't get a fair shake. I got overruled," he said(https://x.com/Serellan/status/2087601408380228005) (via VGC(https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/former-wb-director-says-lord-of-the-rings-war-in-the-north-should-never-have-released-at-the-same-time-as-skyrim/googlevignette)). "Nice to see it get a proper release." !(https://www.gamespot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/warinthenorth7bc860.jpg?w=636) War in the North is back. War in the North was originally released on November 1, 2011--just 10 days later, Bethesda released Skyrim. In addition to launching around the same time as Skyrim, War in the North launched on the same day as Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and a week before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Allen did not work directly on War in the North in a development capacity, but he was on the studio leadership team. He said(https://x.com/Serellan/status/2087695193634230606) the developers at Snowblind, which has since shuttered, "deserve all the credit." He said when War in the North was originally released in 2011, it got "lost in the wash," while "every review just compared it to Skyrim (as I predicted they would)." Allen went on to say(https://x.com/Serellan/status/2087729633223671846) War in the North had "hardly any marketing." He theorized that the executives either "wrote it off or thought hardcore Lord of the Rings fans would just know about it, somehow." While not discussing War in the North's release date specifically, Allen theorized(https://x.com/Serellan/status/2087606858068721900) that higher-ups at publicly traded companies may be discouraged from shifting release dates because of how such changes could affect bonuses. "Quarterly revenue motivations drive more decisions than people realize. It's a big challenge with stock-price driven organizations," he said. "Must be hard to be an exec and go 'Well, this game will do better if we hold it until March, but my bonus will take a 50% hit,'" he said. Aspyr Media licensed War in the North from WB and re-released the game this week in the Legacy Edition. The publisher is planning to re-release more Lord of the Rings games in the future(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/more-lord-of-the-rings-game-re-releases-are-coming/). After spending time in the US military, Allen joined Red Storm Entertainment in 2002, where he became the creative director and design director for the Ghost Recon games. He then moved to Bungie, where he was the design lead on Halo: Reach. In 2009, he joined WB Games as design director. He later started his own company, Serellan, before joining Epic Games to become its lead Unreal Engine evangelist. He's now the design director at Project Zomboid developer The Indie Store.
Madden NFL 27 Review: A Franchise Mode With Some Football on the Side
Is it possible to turn a granular, technical quarterback sim into a more chilled-out business sim?
Hey what's up with all these eye hand bosses?
Have you ever wondered why there are so many boss battles that involve a big monster that has eyes in the palms of its hands? Brian David Gilbert has wondered that, so he decided to look into it.
Investigating Tom Nook's predatory lending practices in Animal Crossing
Is Tom Nook actually a bad guy, or does he just have a bad reputation? We look at the history of Tom Nook’s attitude throughout the Animal Crossing franchise and figure out what his deal is.animalcrossing tomnook video
2K Games Is Making A New Sports Franchise, And All Signs Point To Soccer
2K Games has announced the formation of Small Axe Studios, a new developer that it says will be focused on building a new "blockbuster" sports franchise. While the publisher--which is owned by Take-Two Interactive--has commented which sport will be joining its other franchises, it looks like 2K might be taking on EA's annual soccer series, EA Sports FC. Currently, Small Axe Studios includes several former EA developers, with Aaron McHardy as studio head. McHardy had previously been in charge of EA's FIFA franchise for 15 years, and other notable names include Gary Peterson as Small Axe's head of design, Tom Pan as head of operations, technical art director John Cruz, and engineering lead Mike Thompson--all EA veterans. !(https://www.gamespot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Small-Axe.jpg?w=636) Small Axe Studios logo Another clue that 2K Games will be making its own soccer game is the Small Axe logo, which resembles a soccer club badge on a shirt. While EA has dominated the soccer genre on console and PC--forging its own path forward after it split with FIFA in 2023 and transitioned to EA Sports FC. There hasn't been a new AAA FIFA game since then, but the international soccer body has kept the brand active with mobile games and a World Cup game on Netflix(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fifa-world-cup-game-coming-to-netflix-with-updates-based-on-how-the-tournament-goes/). Now is also a good time to strike while the proverbial iron is hot, as following the recent FIFA World Cup, soccer got a huge visibility boost as record numbers of people tuned in to watch the tournament. Small Axe Studios joins a roster of game studios at 2K that focus on specific sports and have proven to be very popular over the years(https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/ps5-and-ps4s-most-downloaded-games-of-2025-revealed-including-a-call-of-duty-surprise/2900-7406/). NBA 2K, PGA Tour 2K, and WWE 2K have all been big hits for Take-Two Interactive, drawing in revenue not just from launch sales but from various microtransactions as well. Both Take-Two Interactive and EA have been criticized for how aggressively they monetize their games(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-announces-new-plan-to-launch-ads-directly-into-gameplay-after-working-on-in-game-ads-for-decades-already/), with fans accusing them of pushing pay-to-win mechanics.
Why did Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 feature a booby trap banned by the UN?
In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, the park editor included a spike trap called a "Pungee Pit." Brian David Gilbert gets to the bottom of why Neversoft included a UN-banned guerrilla warfare tactic in their lighthearted skateboarding game.
The MSI Claw EX is the most important PC handheld since Steam Deck — I still wouldn’t buy one
As The Verge's resident handheld reviewer, I have nearly every portable gaming PC on a shelf in my house. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus is now the first one I reach for. Thanks to a next-gen Intel chip and improved MSI design, the Claw EX is the most powerful handheld that truly feels &8230;
New Sci-Fi Thriller From Godzilla Director Officially Drops in 3 Weeks
Adam Wingard's latest film, 'Onslaught,' perfectly blends horror and action when it arrives in cinemas this September.