Author: Zach Barbieri

Altus has announced that the upcoming free-to-play spinoff of their popular JRPG, Persona 5: The Phantom x, is coming to mobile and PC on June 26, 2025. The studio made the announcement with an hour-long breakdown video, released today. It is being developed in collaboration between Atlus, Sega, and Perfect World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQsdIWTGn_Y Japanese and English versions of the game will launch simultaneously, though the game had been released previously. Announced in 2023, the title initially saw release in China in 2024. The developer has continued to update the game in that region, addressing bugs and issues, before now porting it…

Microsoft’s multiplatform strategy did not have a clear roadmap. First, it was on a case-by-case basis, then it was not the major releases, then it was everything. The flood gates that rumors have suggested would open finally did this year with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Forza Horizon 5 releasing across party lines to PlayStation, and Gears of War Reloaded set to do so later this year. It’s understandable, given how hardware began a slow decline, I would argue, right around the time Microsoft announced DRM for the Xbox One, something that backtracking couldn’t even help recover. It’s hard…

Yuji Horii has reaffirmed that Dragon Quest XII, the next entry in the long-running Japanese RPG series, is indeed not canceled and still in development. The was announced as part of the 35th anniversary of the Dragon Quest franchise all the way back in 2021, four years after the last mainline entry, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, was released. Since then, however, the game has remained mostly silent outside of a reference or two in interviews. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUAmVLMjGQw The last time Horii mentioned the title was back in February when he made a point to say that the…

GSC Game World has announced that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends of the Zone Trilogy will be receiving an enhanced edition that will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC. Releasing on May 20th, the trilogy includes upgraded versions of Shadow of Chernobyl (2007), Clear Sky (2008), and Call of Prypiat (2009). All of these titles will include upgraded visuals, optimization for current hardware, as well as mod support. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVWkOx4Cj6g GSC Game World has also stated that players who already own the trilogy, released on PlayStation 4 or Xbox, will receive this upgrade for the corresponding games for free. PC players should…

When I first started my cop journey, The Precinct reminded me in part of ABC’s The Rookie. There is a basis to the game that grounds itself in some form of reality before you get involved in a bank robbery gone wrong on your first day, blasting from behind the cover of your car, trying to take down armed attackers. It feels weird to begin your first foot patrol the day after that, handing out parking tickets and stopping a vandal, but to my understanding, that’s just how life goes on the mean streets of Averno City in the 1980s,…

Microsoft has announced that they are making cuts to around 3% of its entire workforce. CNBC reported that Microsoft had 228,000 people in its employ as of June 2024, with the aim of reducing management layers across the entirety of their teams. This will affect roughly 6,000 jobs at the company. A Microsoft spokesman stated: We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace. As of now, there is no word on how these cuts will affect the gaming side of their business moving forward. Early last year, Microsoft cut 1,900…

Tekken fans have been, for years, been asking for the American food chain restaurant Waffle House to become a playable battleground in the popular fighting game series. While this has mostly been a fan desire at this point, apparently Katsuhiro Harada, the Tekken 8 game director, has actually been reaching out to the company, trying to put something together. Harada took to X, responding to fans fervent for the collaboration to happen in the Tekken 8, the most recent entry. Prior to this, Harada, a Japanese game developer, expressed interest in learning more about this, given that there is some…

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed from a 2025 launch window to 2026. The game has been mostly quiet, save for a trailer released last year, making it less surprising that the title needs extra time. Skydance Games released a statement confirming this, attributing this to a need for extra polish time. Within this was a hint that Skydance may be poised to show more information soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRc_Vy-W0yw Skydance Games said: Taking this additional time will allow us to add more polish, and make sure we give you the best possible experience, and one that lives up to…

Sega and RGG Studio have announced that Virtual Fighter 5 R.E.V.O., the latest version of their popular fighting game series, has been announced for release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, as well as the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2. This announcement comes several months after this version was initially released on Steam earlier this year. This news was shared during a Virtua Fighter direct on Sunday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwjAPp-w6Q During this announcement, Virtua Fighter project producer Seiji Aoki stated: I know we’ve kept you waiting, our Steam release Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. is finally coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Since Virtua Fighter…

On Friday, May 9th, 2025, the Communication Workers of America announced the creation of the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA, a union representing nearly 200 employees, and offering “wall-to-wall” representation for developers working under Blizzard Entertainment on the Overwatch competitive shooter. This isn’t the first union formed at Blizzard either, as the World of Warcraft development team similarly formed one in 2024. Wall-to-Wall unions represent the entire workforce of a company, rather than a more targeted discipline-based union, such as the QA union formed at Raven Software back in 2022. Overwatch Gamemakers Guild organizers Frank Le Cocq, Foster Elmendorf, and Jess Castillo…