Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console. The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April. Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month! Read more ..read more

PC component and peripherals business Corsair has announced plans to acquire Endor AG, the parent company of sim racing brand Fanatec. The move comes a month after Fanatec announced a new CEO amidst widespread condemnation from the sim racing community over botched product launches, shipping delays and customer service failings, which have soured the reputation of a company that produces otherwise well-regarded sim racing gear, from wheels and direct drive wheelbases to pedals and other accessories. There's clear logic behind the move, as Corsair doesn't currently have a sim racing brand in t ..read more

This week, Elite Dangerous - the multiplayer space sim from Frontier Developments - has been met with a spate of negative reviews on Steam, resulting in a recent average rating of 'Mixed'. This is all in reaction to the introduction of a new ship known as the Python Mk II. This ship is described as a "sleek" medium class vessel, with a focus on powerful combat. It also promises a smoother ride thanks to its advanced Supercruise Overcharge capabilities. So, why the upset? Well, it is because the developer has essentially put this new ship behind a paywall for a few months. "The Python Mk II is ..read more

Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of indie game publisher Devolver, believes in "selling games first" over launching in subscription services like Game Pass and PS Plus. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Lowrie provided his stance on the current state of the industry, describing large-scale game development as "crushing under its own weight a little bit". Further, he noted the growth of subscription services has tapered off and deals for indie developers to be included are getting worse. Read more ..read more

Final Fantasy 14 has finally arrived on Xbox Series X/S consoles more than a decade after the MMO's relaunch in 2013, joining players on PC and two generations of PlayStation consoles. With an ever-expanding free trial and plenty of positive buzz, how does the game fare on Microsoft's current-gen consoles ahead of a big graphical update scheduled for July, and what's the score with the recently updated PS5 version? Let's start with that relatively more mature PS5 version as the basis for our comparisons, given that the game has been available on Sony's current-gen platform since 2021 - and ha ..read more

In the dripping midnight glade there is a telephone resting on the earth. It's an antique. I can tell that from the limited 2D pixel art. Although it's just a few lines and dots and smudges of light, I can imagine the weight of the receiver in my hands, almost feel that strange matte chill of the Bakelite. The telephone is important here in Animal Well. It's how you save the game, for starters. But the more I have explored, making those long looping journeys left, right, up and down, the more I have found myself heading further out in these directions than I had assumed was possible, and the ..read more

MultiVersus is set to make its return later this month, and - as previously rumoured - Mark Hamill's Joker will be joining the line up. The news of Joker's upcoming MultiVersus debut comes with a reveal trailer, titled "Get a Load of Me". It all begins with Batman - voiced by the late Kevin Conroy - striding purposefully through an underground cavern-like area as green smoke billows around him. Other MultiVersus characters, such as Bugs Bunny and Arya Stark (I still find the whole line up quite bizarre) are also here, and look a little worse for wear. What, or who, could be doing this? Of cou ..read more

It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon. As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date. This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains in the database, as do mentions of digital purchases. Read more ..read more

Nintendo Switch owners will no longer be able to upload images and videos directly to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as of 10th June. The removal of posting to X was detailed by Nintendo today, in a blog post on the changes. You'll also no longer be able to find friend suggestions using your X login. Changes specific to certain games include the ability to post Smash Bros. Ultimate screenshots to the Nintendo Switch Online app's Smash World section, which will become unavailable. Images posted via Splatoon 3's mailbox in Inkopolis square will be sent to Nintendo servers. Posting i ..read more

The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind. Arkane Austin struggled with the uncharacteristic co-op, online shooter elements of Redfall, but before that made the excellent 2 ..read more