Tomb Raider: Catalyst is among the most anticipated entries in the franchise, continuing Lara Croft's story years after the events of 2008's Tomb Raider: Underworld. Built entirely in Unreal Engine 5, the adventure will take place in Northern India and feature Alix Wilton Regan as the voice of Lara Croft, though the game isn't expected until 2027 at the earliest. View the full article
Revealed exclusively at IGN Live, Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is the surprise upcoming game from Bloober Team, the developer of the critically and commercially acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, and Cronos: The New Dawn. It stars Michelle Forbes, who reprises her role as Trek fan-favorite character Ro Laren and finds herself stranded on an alien planet. The newly formed Paramount Games Studio, which includes all Paramount and Skydance gaming studios, has invested heavily in the game, and, as Shawn Kittelsen, senior vice president, head of creative and production at Paramount Games Studio told IGN ahead of the reveal, it certainly has high hopes for it. “The goal is for Bloober to make the best Star Trek game of all time, if we can bring that to life,” Kittelsen said. There have been many, many Star Trek games over the years, and everyone will have their own favorites. Birth of the Federation, 25th Anniversary, Judgment Rites, Bridge Commander, Armada, Starfleet Academy, Star Trek Online… the list goes on. Paramount, though, wants to top them all. To that end, Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is different from previous Star Trek games. It’s from Bloober, a horror specialist, but Kittelsen says it’s more of a “psychological thriller.” He compares it to Ninja Theory’s Hellblade series, rather than Bloober’s previous hits like Silent Hill 2. “It's interesting, Star Trek has had so many permutations over the years,” Kittelsen said. “It can kind of genre bend. It's the rare sci-fi show that can do a Sherlock Holmes Victorian era mystery as well as interplanetary warfare on an epic scale. And everything in between. Bloober has an incredible track record in the horror space… Silent Hill 2 remake, Cronos: The New Dawn I thought was really well done and showed them pushing into sci-fi horror. I think we consider Star Trek: Shadow Frontier more of a psychological thriller than a horror game, sort of akin to Hellblade in a lot of ways.” So, expect plenty of “conflict within yourself” moments from Ro Laren in a game that will show Bloober “has more range.” “If you look at the history of Star Trek, a lot of fans and writers always would grumble about the Roddenberry rule, where Gene Roddenberry famously did not want interpersonal conflict between crew members,” Kittelsen said. “But where that drove a lot of storytelling in the original series and in The Next Generation was into this sort of inward journey of intrapersonal conflict, like conflict within yourself. “Ro Laren’s character, who's played by Michelle Forbes, who we're bringing back from The Next Generation, never got her moment in the spotlight enough for the fans who loved her on The Next Generation. So bringing her back and having an adventure focused on her, and then giving her that deeper inner psychological conflict to work with, and making that the centerpiece for the psychological thriller where she has to survive on a strange planet, is right up Bloober's alley. And I think this is a game that's going to show that Bloober has more range, that they don't need to be pigeonholed in a horror category. They're trying to flex to a different place and show what they can do. “And because of Trek’s innate qualities and the fact that there is a hopefulness and a really strong sense of positive and optimistic values that come through when you're part of Starfleet. That thread as well, you can go really, really dark at Star Trek, but it always has to have some anchor in the light of boldly going, and not boldly going to seek and destroy, but boldly going to understand and communicate. “That is going to show people a new side of what Bloober can do. But it's also a chance for Bloober to bring the things that they've been doing really well in their latest games, the incredible production values, the really strong cinematic storytelling and just rock solid third-person action, all of those pieces will come together, I think, for a very special game that's going to be unexpected for a lot of Trek fans and a lot of Bloober fans.” Paramount Games Studio had its big step-out moment last week, where it announced its existence with the reveal of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin from Bayonetta developer PlatinumGames. Turtles is very early in development, but Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is further along, Kittelsen said. This was a licensed game that was already in the works when Paramount formed its new video game division last year, and Kittelsen and co. liked what they saw. So they invested in the game, decided to publish it themselves, and set about on a release plan that, Paramount hopes, will get Trek fans excited. “We started talking to Bloober about ways that we felt like the game could be pushed further and quality could be improved, and they were super collaborative and receptive to that,” Kittelsen explained. “So we've had a really good relationship working with them. And as they developed a vertical slice that went from good to better to best, it was clear that we felt there was more potential for this game, and that we wouldn't want someone else to publish it, that we would want to work with it ourselves. And again, this is all about, how do we mobilize Paramount's fan channels and the Star Trek fan base as much as possible? And we felt we could activate that better than having someone else publish the title. “So we invested in it, we're contributing to the production, and we're collaborating with Bloober really heavily and we're bringing it to market with as much fanfare as we possibly can, and making sure along the way too that it's an authentic Trek experience, but it's also a high-quality game.” Star Trek: Shadow Frontier is due out in 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Meanwhile, Paramount Games Studio is now publishing the recently delayed Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, and Amy Hennig's Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, although it won't be out until 2027 at the earliest. The AAA Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG is no more, however. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article
Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition should now be a lot easier to play on Steam Deck / Steam Machine and anyone using a gamepad - with the new controller UI. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Valorant has been dropping lore beats regarding Sage's ongoing crystallization for some time now, as the radiant gradually succumbs to her affliction. For the most part, it's been confined to data logs and voice memos in-game, but now Riot Games has upped the ante by sharing one of said narrative bites to its socials page. There have been rumors of a potential Sage rework circulating, and while I'm still not convinced by them, it feels like something big is coming. Read the full story on PCGamesN: Valorant is Sage-posting again, and the timing doesn't seem to be a coincidence View the full article
Dinos? In my fortress? Oh no. A big update for Dwarf Fortress has been announced to arrive on June 25th featuring a lot of new content. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
The developer of 1666: Amsterdam has apologized for its use of AI assets in the game's playable prologue, which is available now on PC. In a statement posted to X/Twitter, the studio acknowledged "concerns" had been raised by those who had played the 30-minute experience and spotted in-game art that appeared AI-generated. Panache Digital Games, which previously made ape survival game Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, announced 1666: Amsterdam last week during the Summer Games Fest livestream. It's a concept that Panache founder Patrice Désilets devised years ago following his acrimonious exit from Ubisoft, where he co-created Assassin's Creed. The statement admits that Panache's team of artists used AI to generate "early versions of assets," which will now be replaced for the game's full version. It's unclear if these were always set to be replaced, or are simply being changed due to backlash. "A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI," Panache wrote. "We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were indeed some early versions of assets that made their way into the the prologue. This includes some in-game portraits and external marketing assets. "We are actively reviewing the assets in question. Human made versions will be released in an update dropping soon. We own up to this oversight and apologize for any upset caused. Please be assured that the Early Access and full game will not include any assets generated by AI." The 1666: Amsterdam Prologue is available now for free via Epic Games Store and Steam, where it sits with a 'Mixed' user review rating. "They use gen AI in many places," reads one user review. "Pictures inside the game, assets and even the promo key art is generated. I'm de-wishlisting it and ignoring the company." Said another: "about AI, it's not hard to hire an artist to do concept art, or in-game assets. The game has cut corners and in its current state and I cannot recommend it." Others have praised the prologue's atmosphere and Assassin's Creed 2-like vibes, while some have criticised its technical performance. Still, it is early days — with an early access release due at some point later this year, before plans for a full launch at a later date. Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social View the full article
Games are handed out for free on Steam more often than one would assume, and it is a great way for people to expand their library with underrated gems, triple-A masterpieces, and some of the greatest titles on the platform. However, it is all too common for users to miss out completely, as these games are typically only free for a limited time. View the full article
Elden Ring fans have been wondering what's next for the iconic Soulsborne franchise, and with FromSoftware infamously tight-lipped on future single-player projects, gamers have been left speculating over whether there will be an official return to the Lands Between. That said, recent rumors have suggested there's a new single-player title in the works behind the scenes outside FromSoft's officially announced projects. View the full article
Details about the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Revelation are being slowly dished out by developer Square Enix, and there's no sign of it slowing down. Fans have been treated to everything from the game's platforms, story details, entire ending, and now, of course, the game's map size. View the full article
Xbox’s games boss had provided an update on Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 6, nearly exactly eight years after it was first announced. The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced via a teaser trailer at E3 2018. Shortly after, Bethesda admitted that its release was still years away, and it was said to still be in early development as of 2023. Speaking to Variety, Xbox’s chief content officer, Matt Booty, was asked about the RPG’s prolonged absence in its digital showcases, to which he responded that he’d seen it running and it “looks amazing”. Read More... View the full article
Crimson Desert has now sold over 6 million copies worldwide, Pearl Abyss has announced. The impressive milestone was achieved less than three months after the game went on ***** — just 83 days, to be exact. Crimson Desert sold 2 million copies on launch day, and passed 5 million within its first month. “Your adventures and tales continue to make the journey of Crimson Desert even more special,” the South Korean developer said. “Once again, thank you to every Greymane who has stepped into Pywel and experienced the world of Crimson Desert in their own way.” Pearl Abyss CEO Jin-young Heo added: "We are sincerely grateful to players around the world for helping Crimson Desert achieve meaningful success in the global market despite being a new IP. To provide more enjoyable and better experiences, Pearl Abyss will continue moving forward and taking on new challenges." Crimson Desert launched on March 19 and was an instant hit for Pearl Abyss. In its latest financial results, which accounted for just a couple weeks of Crimson Desert sales, Pearl Abyss said Crimson Desert had brought in KRW 266.5 billion (approx. $178.8 million). More than 80% of those Crimson Desert sales came from North America and Europe. Pearl Abyss projected revenue from Crimson Desert for the full year to come in at KRW 644.1~734.8 billion (approx. $432.2 million~$514.4 million). That means if Crimson Desert performs at the top line of Pearl Abyss’ estimate for 2026, it will end the year having brought in over half a billion dollars. Crimson Desert revenue is expected to “soften” in the second quarter of 2026, Pearl Abyss said, because initial sales are front-loaded. But the company expects to maintain “stable performance,” supported by continuous patches and updates (remarkably, Pearl Abyss has released game-changing updates for Crimson Desert on an almost weekly basis since launch). Crimson Desert has done so well that Pearl Abyss paid out a performance bonus to staff valued at approximately $3,400. The news comes hot on the heels of Pearl Abyss’ announcement of a summer roadmap of content, as well as confirmation that DLC is in development. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has revealed that Microsoft's gaming division plans to introduce more flexible Xbox Game Pass offerings to better accommodate different types of players. Sharma previously made headlines in April 2026 when she lowered Xbox Game Pass subscription prices, a move that was generally well received by gamers. However, the price reduction came with a notable tradeoff, as Call of Duty titles will no longer be included as day-one releases on the service. View the full article
Xbox could be about to shut down one of its game studios, as part of expected significant cunts reportedly taking place next month, it’s claimed. On Wednesday, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma published a note sent to staff, in which she shared “realities that we need to navigate”, such as that its annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion in five years, hardware costs are up 4x since last year, and its studio system is “overextended”. According to a Bloomberg report, the note to staff was sent in advance of planned significant layoffs across the Xbox business and a reduction to its marketing and other budgets. Read More... View the full article
The community-made compatibility layer Proton-CachyOS has a new release out with more advancements for running Windows games on Linux / SteamOS. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Valve updated Proton Experimental on June 10th to bring more bug fixes for running Windows games on Linux / SteamOS systems. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Microsoft’s new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is evidently planning a major wave of layoffs next month, according to a news report in Bloomberg. After the report appeared citing multiple unidentified sources, Sharma and Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty sent an email to employees and posted it on Xbox Wire, where they pledged an Xbox reset in the next 100 days. Sadly, this news comes days after Xbox hit a high point with its Summer Game Fest week Xbox Showcase, where it announced 25 big games. After multiple layoffs in the past few years, Xbox is evidently heading for more as the aftermath of its miscalculations are becoming clear to Sharma. Bloomberg said the layoffs are expected after the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year on June 30. It’s not clear how many will be affected. While acknowledging achievements that were largely set in place before Sharma arrived, she noted there are five “realities” that the company has to navigate. In a nod to the arguments raised by newly appointed Xbox strategy leader Matthew Ball, who talked about the “attention battle” in a recent slide deck, Sharma and Booty wrote, “Going forward, our competition is attention. There are more great games, TV series, franchises, creators, content formats, apps, etc., than ever before.” The first one noted that while there are over one billion players playing Xbox and Xbox games each year, Xbox spent $20 billion on content investments in the last five years, not counting its $68.5 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. But during the same *******, as the Xbox Series X/S consoles lost in competition with Sony, Nintendo and Valve, Xbox’s annual revenue declined nearly half a billion dollars. Asha Sharma and Matt Booty. Credit: Xbox Xbox’s profit margin has dropped to 3%. “Going forward, this cannot continue,” Sharma and Booty wrote. When I hear that number, I noted that Sharma made decisions that decreased revenue so far, such as rescinding the price increase for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and making two big games into exclusives for Xbox. A Halo remake, Halo Campaign Evolved, is coming on July 28 and Bloomberg said that a video promoting it at Sony’s State of Play was pulled last week. That means Xbox won’t get revenue from sales on Sony’s console. While hurting the bottom line, these moves could help restore fans’ waning confidence in Xbox. Meanwhile, money has presumably poured in from the launch of Forza Horizon 6, which has reached six million players. Evidently, these things are not canceling each other out and resulting in profit recovery. There aren’t too many other levers to pull, other than laying off more staff. Sharma also addressed a “hardware component crisis. When Sharma joined a little over 100 days ago, the price it paid for components for console storage was over twice as high as it had paid last fall, and it has doubled again. More memory chip price increases are expected through the 2027 holiday season. This is due to the tremendous demand for AI processors from companies like Nvidia, and that in turn is creating demand for memory chips in AI systems. Those same kinds of chips and SSD storage devices are used in Xbox hardware. This is a problem that is impacting the entire industry, and many companies are postponing launches of new consumer hardware or canceling the launches outright. “While the entire industry is facing a components crisis, we believe we have been impacted more greatly than many of our peers due to the choices we made over the last half decade. We are currently unable to make as many consoles as players want to buy, and we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix,” Sharma and Booty said. Gears of War: E-Day. Source: Microsoft They also noted that the division had overextended and not adequately funded its studios to compete and win. “At the same time, as we saw this past weekend at Showcase, a reliable pipeline of first- and third-party exclusives and new IP are critical to our success,” they wrote. “We need to reassess the balance between these and our investment priorities for the next five years.” There is other bad news. They wrote, “Our current platform infrastructure is not built for the battle ahead. Our systems are overly complex, spanning hundreds of dependencies, which hinders our ability to move fast. We’ve become too reliant on vendors to operate our systems and must become more self-reliant as an engineering culture to build for the future. We must increase the value we ship to players while decreasing the time it takes to do so. Going forward, we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of Xbox and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming.” In a talk with Fortune yesterday, Sharma noted that Xbox needed to “reset” its business, and some are now interpreting that as pending layoffs. Sharma has already decided to lower the price of Xbox Game Pass while also removing Call of Duty releases from day one on the service. And Sharma also moved to appease angry gamers by making Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution into Xbox exclusives — a move that means those games will no longer reap extra sales from appearing on Sony’s PlayStation consoles. Sharma and Booty are evidently turning to layoffs, but they may not achieve much. Last year, Xbox laid off hundreds of people from Candy Crush Saga mobile game maker King, it canceled the Perfect Dark reboot, and closed the studio making it, The Initiative. It also canceled an MMO at ZeniMax and canceled Rare’s Everwild. Each cancellation came with layoffs, and this comes after Xbox layoffs in each of the previous two years as well. We have reached out for comment on the expected layoffs. Sharma and Booty post for employees You can ******* the Covenant ghost Source: Microsoft Team, Over the first 100 days together, we have started to revive XBOX. Our platform teams have already shipped more updates in the last 100 days than during the prior year combined. We now have more active partners on XBOX than ever before. Our Game Pass team set to work fixing our offering and after 8+ months of decline, our service has started to grow again. And through Player Voice, we have a 24/7 channel to hear directly from players, creators, and developers. With the XBOX Games Showcase and the return of FanFest, we brought together hundreds of millions of fans globally. We reintroduced exclusives with Gears of War: E-Day in 2026 and Clockwork Revolution in 2027. Players can continue to expect signature exclusives from us every year. In parallel, Playground Games reminded us that established franchises can achieve incredible new highs. These results are early, but they demonstrate what is possible when we move faster, stay close to our community, and align behind a shared vision. We have made mistakes, and will continue to make them, but what matters is that we listen, learn, and adjust the course where needed. Remember, our fans are rooting for us. Now we start the next 100 days. It is important to have both optimism and realism as we work to reset the business. Here are the realities that we need to navigate: #1: Over 1 billion players choose to play XBOX and our games each year, for a total of 72 billion hours across Console, PC, Mobile, and Streaming (excluding much of China and a few other properties). Our franchises are also among the largest and most beloved globally and are now breaking records in TV and film. Going forward, our competition is attention. There are more great games, TV series, franchises, creators, content formats, apps, etc., than ever before. #2: We will end this fiscal year at about a 3% accountability margin, down year-over-year. Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform, and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time. Going forward, this cannot continue. #3: We are in a hardware component crisis. When I joined as CEO in February, the price we paid for console storage components was over 2x as high as we paid last fall. These costs have since doubled again. And as we plan for the 2027 holiday season, we expect another significant increase, taking us over 5x the prices we paid only two years earlier. Memory costs have followed a broadly similar trajectory. While the entire industry is facing a components crisis, we believe we have been impacted more greatly than many of our peers due to the choices we made over the last half decade. We are currently unable to make as many consoles as players want to buy, and we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix. #4: We expanded our studio system when we needed a pipeline of content to meet multiple strategies across subscription, streaming, and devices. In the process, we have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content. We are the fortunate stewards of industry-defining franchises that have enormous potential and player demand, but we have not adequately funded them to compete and win. At the same time, as we saw this past weekend at Showcase, a reliable pipeline of first- and third-party exclusives and new IP are critical to our success. We need to reassess the balance between these and our investment priorities for the next 5 years. #5: Our current platform infrastructure is not built for the battle ahead. Our systems are overly complex, spanning hundreds of dependencies, which hinders our ability to move fast. We’ve become too reliant on vendors to operate our systems and must become more self-reliant as an engineering culture to build for the future. We must increase the value we ship to players while decreasing the time it takes to do so. Going forward, we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of XBOX and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming. For some of you, these realities will be surprising and even frustrating to discover. We won’t succeed by hiding hard truths, nor will we succeed by doing the same thing and expecting different results. Like the ‘everyday wins’ mentality from the first 100 days, we will sprint to make progress against hardware, content, experience, and services together. XBOX is one of the few places where people come not just to play, but to connect with others to create memories. With console at the center of how our showcase experiences are defined, Windows as one of the largest gaming platforms in the world, and incredible games under our roof as one of the largest publishers in the world, we have the foundation in place. Let’s reset for a stronger XBOX and build the #1 gaming and entertainment company. Asha and Mat The post Xbox faces new wave of layoffs next month | Bloomberg report appeared first on GamesBeat. View the full article
A fresh Steam Beta release brings improved Pipewire session logic on Linux which should make streaming and recording better. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Eight new games have just arrived on Steam, and they’re completely free to claim and keep forever, no strings attached. Free titles are always arriving on the gaming platform, and you may often be overwhelmed by the possibilities, even though several of them may fly under your radar. Earlier this month, four new free games arrived on Steam, offering players brand-new gameplay possibilities, some of which look particularly exciting. That list is ever-expanding, and now, there are several other titles up for grabs. View the full article
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Tomb Raider: Catalyst is among the most anticipated entries in the franchise, continuing Lara Croft's story years after the events of 2008's Tomb Raider: Underworld. Built entirely in Unreal Engine 5, the adventure will take place in Northern India and feature Alix Wilton Regan as the voice of Lara Croft, though the game isn't expected until 2027 at the earliest. View the full article