GTA 6 and price rises are going to destroy gaming forever – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published May 4, 2025 1:00am GTA 6 – will people have time for anything else? (Rockstar Games) The $80 price rise for Xbox games and GTA 6’s delay has a reader worrying that the video games industry as we know it is coming to an end. I started writing this thinking I was only going to be complaining about Xbox’s price rises. And then I saw the news about GTA 6’s delay. It’s been quite the week. A lot of people thought that GTA 6 must be delayed, given the complete lack of information, so that wasn’t a surprise. Although it means we can now ignore anything Take-Two say in the future, given what they said about the release date. If it was a few months I could understand that they were just trying to be optimistic, but more than a year? That’s not the sort of delay that creeps up on you. Whether you’re upset about it or not, the delay alone is going to have a big effect on gaming as a whole, but so too is the fact that Microsoft is moving towards $80 as the cost of its games. And since they’re too embarrassed to say what the price is in the UK, I’m going to take it for granted that that means £80 here. You don’t need me to tell you that £80 is far too much. You can talk about how that compares to movies and gigs, and all that other stuff, and I’d agree: in proportion video games are better value for money. But that’s not the point. The point is that £80 is such a huge chunk of money it rules out all but the biggest games for everyone, which is almost where we are now anyway. We constantly hear that nobody is buying new games, except Call Of Duty and EA Sports FC, and most people are sticking with the same game for years, just endlessly buying more cosmetics and other microtransaction junk. What they get out of that I couldn’t begin to imagine but it’s already nearly brought the games industry to its knees. Now we have Microsoft’s annoucement, which is not only going to make impulse purchases a thing of the past but will put people off the idea of buying video games entirely and just file them away in their heads as something that is too expensive and not worth the trouble anymore. Unless it’s free-to-play garbage. Of course, Microsoft won’t be the last to announce a price rise. Nintendo already has and Sony is probably only delaying to try and make Xbox look bad. Other publishers will be champing at the bit, and I imagine that if Call Of Duty and EA Sports FC aren’t £80 this year they will be next year (EA may take their time, given EA Sports FC 25 was a bit of a dud). To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next And then we have GTA 6. Everyone has already accepted the fact that it’s going to cost at least £80 and probably £100 or more. And other publishers will immediately leap on that too and think, ‘If they can do it, why not us?’ My other concern with GTA 6, is that if most people are already only playing the same one or two games, what is going to happen when all the pent up desire of 13 years crashes to earth with GTA 6? The game’s going to be the best-selling game ever, obviously, but if it’s even half as involved as GTA 5 people are going to be playing it forever. It will become the game. It’ll be so popular that there’s literally no point releasing anything else because even if people can afford them (which they can’t) they haven’t got time to play them, because you’ve got to get your two hours a day in on GTA 6. A video games industry crash has seemed on the horizon for years, but here it is finally coming into view. And this one isn’t just going to be limited to the US. When I say destroy gaming I don’t mean it literally. There’ll still be gatcha rubbish on mobile, there’ll still be some indie games (the lower budget ones at least), and Call Of Duty, EA Sports FC, Fortnite, GTA, and Minecraft will continue to be 90% of everything. But the actual games that you – as a person that was interested enough to visit this site and read this far into my feature – care about? They’re done. More Trending No one can compete with GTA 6 – it’s got to the point where it’s too big and too expensive for anyone to even try – and no one wants anything else anyway. Well, I do. But I’m afraid we’re all going to have to admit that we’re in the minority and when the games industry does implode, we’ll be upset but most people won’t even notice anything changed – because they only played one game anyway. By reader Gaston As prices go up with the number of customers go down? (Microsoft) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

The 10 best Star Wars games to play right now on PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC GameCentral Published May 3, 2025 6:00am There’s no shortage of Star Wars games but which are the good ones? (Netmarble) Star Wars Day is this weekend and if you want to celebrate with a good video game these are the best ones you can pick up and play today. It’s impossible to imagine the world of video games without Star Wars. If you’ve ever played a game with spaceships or aliens or laser swords then it will owe at least some kind of debt to the almost 50-year-old sci-fi saga. Naturally, there’s also been a mountain of officially licensed games, starting as far as back as 1982 on the Atari 2600. As is the way of things, not all of those games have been great, but Star Wars has a decent batting average, compared to most licensed properties, and there’s even a select few titles that can be considered genuine classics in their own right, regardless of whether they’re tie-ins. For this list we’ve tried to keep things practical by only naming games that can be played on modern formats. That means titles which would’ve appeared on this list – such as the original Atari coin-op and Rogue Squadron 2 – are still stuck on older formats like the GameCube. But for now here are the best Star Wars games you could, and should, play right now. 10. Super Star Wars PlayStation 4 This one only just makes it onto our list, not necessarily because of its quality but because the only format it’s currently available on is the PlayStation 4. Sadly, its two sequels (we’ll leave you to guess what they’re called) aren’t available on any modern format at all. Originally released for the SNES in 1992, this is what would have happened if the original trilogy had come out during the 16-bit era and been turned into an action platformer – as tended to happen with any movie licence at the time. The platforming is a little unrefined, and hordes of enemies constantly respawning at the edge of the screen is a constant annoyance, but the graphics are excellent, with increasingly more ambitious Mode 7 effects as the trilogy goes on. The attention to Star Wars detail is great and the game was actually very import in reviving interest in the franchise during the early 90s, coming out at the same time as the Thrawn trilogy of novels and the initial Dark Horse comic books. 9. Star Wars Episode I: Racer Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC In a world in which F-Zero and WipEout didn’t exist, Racer (despite what everyone thinks, it wasn’t called Pod Racer) would be considered a minor classic but, unfortunately, being the third best futuristic racer doesn’t quite have the same cachet. Although the Tatooine level accurately recreates the scene from The Phantom Menace, in most other respects the Star Wars connections are very mild and you’d barely know it was a tie-in. That’s a compliment though because it means the game stands on its own, with good track design and a blistering sense of speed. Although it was originally a N64 console exclusive it’s been released on many formats since then, including an arcade spin-off and a light remaster in 2020. 8. Star Wars Outlaws Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 (due 4/9/25), and PC The knives were out for Outlaws even before it launched, with a general fatigue for Ubisoft open world adventures leading many to only see the worst in the game. That’s unfortunate because Outlaws makes a genuine effort to get away from some of the genre’s most predictable tropes, with a clever twist on how you gain new skills, non-linear storytelling, and an interesting reputation system. The game is not flawless – most of the characters lack bite and the gunplay is similarly flat – but the Star Wars authenticity is top notch, especially in terms of portraying the seedy underbelly of the universe, which is an integral part of most other media but rarely explored in games. Although the inability to do any crimes that aren’t already part of the script means it’s not quite the Han Solo simulator we always dreamed of. 7. Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR This is probably the most obscure game on this list, but while there are many different Star Wars VR games, and things like Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge are more technically advanced, this is overall the most interesting. It’s set between Episodes 3 and 4 of the movies and casts you as a smuggler who unwittingly ends up at Darth Vader’s lava strewn castle. While there, you discover you’re Force sensitive, which leads into a surprisingly interesting story – written by movie scriptwriter David S. Goyer – involving Vader mourning the loss of his wife Padme. Like all VR games it’s still half tech demo but on the Oculus Quest (the PlayStation Move controllers don’t work nearly as well) it’s very impressive, especially when using Force powers and a lightsaber. 6. Star Wars Battlefront 2 Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC Considering the amount of effort, and attention to Star Wars detail, that went into this game it really should be ranked higher, but unfortunately if there’s one mistake every Star Wars game makes it’s that using a blaster always feels weedy and insubstantial. Despite that rather important flaw Battlefront 2 is a very entertaining online shooter, complete with a fun little story mode and a competent space combat simulator element. Ultimately, Battlefront 2 will be best remembered as the downfall of microtransactions in full price games, which is a worthy, if unintentional, achievement. Some may argue that its namesake from 2005 is a better game, but while it is arguably more ambitious, the recent remaster reveals its very obvious technical limitations. 5. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC The very first Lego game, back in 2005, was a Star Wars title (based only on the prequels) and it’s always been clear that the developers have a special passion for the galaxy far, far away. The games have a very British sense of humour but there’s also a clear love for the source material that isn’t always evident in other tie-ins. That alone explains the near endless amount of content here, that covers all nine mainline movies, with the DLC adding in characters from many of the spin-offs and shows. The Skywalker Saga has a little more depth to its action than previous Lego games, while still being just simple enough that anyone, of any level of experience, can play it with friends and family. 4. Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast Xbox, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC We’re in two minds as to whether this or its predecessor is superior, in large part because the latter had an excellent expansion, that cast you as non-canon character Mara Jade and featured a particularly inspired final boss battle. Both games are sequels to the recently remastered Dark Forces and have clearly been a major influence on Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi series. What started out as a relatively straightforward Doom clone evolved into the best Jedi Knight simulator of the modern era, in terms of the use of a wide variety of Force powers and the way lightsaber combat is handled. Initially PC only, the mouse controls work extremely well, with the addition of combos and three different combat styles showing considerable progression from the first game. 3. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android It’s puzzling that there haven’t been more Star Wars role-playing games over the years, given how beloved BioWare’s 2003 title is. Set almost 4,000 years before the events of the original trilogy, the game features an entirely new cast and backstory, as you attempt to prevent the rise of a new Sith Empire. It has much in common with other BioWare games such as Mass Effect, although the combat can be paused at any time, similar to Dragon Age. Its famous story twist is superb, and better than any future movie is likely to come up with, but at the same time it can be a very ponderous game, in terms of dialogue and pacing, and would greatly benefit from the proposed remake it’s probably never going to get. In theory the sequel, by Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian, is almost as good but the release was rushed, and you need a fan mod to fully appreciate it. The Old Republic MMO, by BioWare, is also set in the same time period. 2. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC It’s very encouraging that the most recent Star Wars game is also one of the best. Not only that but it’s a notable improvement on its predecessor, Fallen Order, which raises hopes for the final, but currently unannounced, entry in the trilogy – even if the original director recently left Respawn. More Trending Although there is significant influence from the Jedi Knight series, the game also borrows liberally from Metroid Prime and, very unexpectedly, Dark Souls. It’s not nearly as hard as that makes it sound, but the platforming and exploration are not trivial, and neither are the many excellent lightsaber battles. The story is set squarely within the modern Disney canon, but a more focused storyline and more interesting characters are amongst the many improvements from the first title. 1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter PC The sequel to 1993’s X-Wing, this is not only the best Star Wars game ever made but one of the best licensed titles of any kind – as well as being the best space combat simulator. It puts you into the cockpit of an Imperial pilot in the immediate aftermath of The Empire Strikes Back, as you start off searching cargo ships for contraband and end the game helping Darth Vader defeat a coup within the Empire. The simulation is extremely complex, with almost every key on the keyboard used, many of them multiple times, and yet the game is fast-paced and exciting, with inventive set pieces and enormous freedom in how you tackle each mission. We’ll discuss the game in more detail tomorrow, but while it is still playable on PC its spiritual successor Star Wars Squadrons is a very good alternative for consoles. It has nowhere near the same level of depth but it’s yet another quality Star Wars game to add to the list. Star Wars: TIE Fighter – it’s currently £2.12 on Steam (Lucasfilm Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

How Game Pass led me to abandon my PS5 – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published May 3, 2025 1:00am Game Pass – who needs a console? (Microsoft) A reader explains how Xbox Game Pass has become such good value he’s begun to neglect his PS5, while instead playing games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This past weekend I’ve, like many others, been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Chatting to a friend who owns a PlayStation 5 for all his gaming made me realise just how good a deal Game Pass has been for me this past year. I am fortunate enough to own all the main systems but the only subscription service I buy into is Game Pass Ultimate, ensuring that I let it expire and stock up on Game Pass Core and then convert to Ultimate to get a year for approximately £70. The last time I turned my PlayStation 5 on was nearly a year ago now, right after I finished playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. There has just not been anything exclusive to PlayStation 5 this past year that I’ve personally felt has been worth spending the money on. Since that time, all my gaming has come via Xbox or PC, with the majority being found on Game Pass. Last summer it was Diablo 4 on Xbox and PC, followed by Dragon’s Dogma 2 on PC via a Steam sale. Heading into late autumn brought on Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, again on Game Pass so playing on Xbox and PC. Christmas added Dragon Age: The Veilguard via another Steam sale then, more recently, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Commandos Origins, and this past week Expedition 33, all via Game Pass. Within this past year I’ve also played briefly some VR in Microsoft Flight Simulator 25, F1 23, Manor Lords, and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black – once again, all included with Game Pass. I also have the Oblivion remaster installed and ready to go, for when I finish Expedition 33. I’ve played hundreds of pounds worth of games I genuinely would have been considering buying and it has cost me nothing more than that initial £70. I know I don’t own them for the long run, and I’ve got no trade-in opportunities, but also, I never would have played this many different games had I been relying on purchases only, but more likely to have only picked up two or three of them. I compare this to going to watch a football match or a theatre ticket, which can easily exceed this in price but give me only a couple of hours of entertainment. My friend is saying he’s gutted to have gone PlayStation 5 this generation, as he feels he really isn’t getting value for money from it on any level and wishes he could be playing half the stuff I have been, especially with the latest Commandos and Expedition 33. Instead, he’s had to wish list them for when they hit the sale on the PS Store. Contrary to many opinions, he’s actually considering switching to team green for the next gen, in the hope that Game Pass continues to pump out more great games. He has briefly tried PS Plus but found hardly any games on there he wanted to play, so let the subscription expire. I also want to add how brilliant Expedition 33 has been so far. I’m absolutely loving this game, the aesthetics, soundtrack, and gameplay are amazing. This is what Final Fantasy 16 should have been and proves that you can do turn-based games in the modern-day era and not make it feel like a game from 20 years ago. The user reviews on Metacritic are hilarious too; one person gave it 0/10 because the camera view is not central to the character but slightly offset. That is clearly a game-breaking issue right there! Lots of people commenting on articles about the QTE being a deal breaker but unlike games such as Spider-Man, the QTEs here actually make sense and once you get the rhythm, which admittedly took me a few tries, you start to get a feel for how the game is meant to be played. More Trending I’m not naturally very good at parrying in games, I’m more likely to run/dodge out of the way than try to time a parry perfectly, but the game encourages the mechanic here and it’s made me persevere for a couple of hours and start to actually land these parries in battles. My advice: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. If it really isn’t for you, go story mode and just tank the hits. I can’t wait to get back into it tonight! By reader Adam W Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – day one on Game Pass (Kepler Interactive) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Sorry but your video game sequel is in another year (Rockstar Games) Despite all the promises from Take-Two, Rockstar Games has just announced the release date of GTA 6… and it’s been delayed until next year. Considering it’s well over a year since the first trailer, and developer Rockstar has said nothing about the game since then, everything has pointed towards GTA 6 being delayed from this year until 2026. Owners Take-Two have repeatedly insisted that’s not what’s happening but now everyone has been forced to admit the truth: GTA 6 is not coming out in 2025, in fact it won’t be out until more than a year from now. The news was announced on X and via Rockstar’s website but no real explanation for the delay has been given. ‘With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto 6 is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve,’ is all they’ve said. What is the release date of GTA 6? Brace yourself, but the release date for GTA 6 is… May 26, 2026. That is pretty much the worst case scenario in terms of delays and much later than any expected, especially as everything seemed to be pointing towards a late September or early October launch. Almost all of Rockstar’s games get delayed though, so it’s only Take-Two’s previous comments that make this anything close to a surprise. Considering how much money Rockstar make from GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 it shouldn’t really cause them any problems, although Take-Two’s share price is sure to take a hit anyway. Update: ‘We support fully Rockstar Games taking additional time to realise their creative vision for Grand Theft Auto 6, which promises to be a ground-breaking, blockbuster entertainment experience that exceeds audience expectations,’ said Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick in statement. ‘While we take the movement of our titles seriously and appreciate the vast and deep global anticipation for Grand Theft Auto 6, we remain steadfast in our commitment to excellence.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Although fans are going to be very upset this will please other publishers, many of which were preparing to delay their autumn titles into next year, simply to get out of the way of GTA 6. It also makes the reverse delay of Borderlands 4 seem even more perplexing and pointless. Nintendo is also likely to be pleased, as this gives them a clear field to play, without having to worry that GTA 6 will be hogging the limelight later in the year, after the Switch 2 launches in June. More Trending Only a Rockstar game could have this much influence on the games industry simply by not coming out, but the mere absence of GTA 6 is going to reshape the game release schedules for the next 12 months and beyond. When is the next GTA 6 trailer? Rockstar has said nothing about a second trailer and it’s unclear whether the long gap between the first one and now is purposeful, or a problem brought on by the delay. Normally you would’ve expected Trailer 2 right about now (or ideally earlier) and to be the means by which they announced the release date. The fact that they instead just used a bland-looking tweet, with not even a bit of new artwork to call its own, suggests that a new trailer is not imminent. There will surely be one before the game’s launch, but it may not be until next year, or perhaps on the second anniversary of the first in early December. Maybe these graphics were too good to be true? (Rockstar Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Xbox fans shocked as price hike makes console more expensive than PS5 Pro Adam Starkey Published May 2, 2025 5:49pm Updated May 2, 2025 5:54pm It just needs a pedal (Microsoft/X/BlooHook) Microsoft’s price hikes across Xbox consoles has led to some bleak comparisons, as Sony’s PS5 Pro suddenly looks more enticing. Despite sales of the Xbox Series X/S being far behind that of the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, Microsoft has raised the console’s price dramatically in light of adverse ‘market conditions’. This worldwide price hike, which came into effect on May 1, is part of a wider increase across other video game hardware, following revised US tariffs. Nintendo has had to bump up the price of Switch 2 accessories, while Sony increased the price of the PlayStation 5 in the UK, Europe, and Australia (although, as of yet, not the US). While Nintendo and Sony appear to be trying to soften the blow, at least in their messaging, the new price for the Xbox Series X/S has soared above any rational explanation in the US. Over in the UK and Europe, the damage isn’t so bad. The Xbox Series X will now cost £499.99/€599.99, an increase of £20/€50. The 512GB Xbox Series S has gone up £50/€50 to £299.99/ €349.99, while the 2TB Xbox Series X model is up £40/€50 to £589.99/€699.99. It’s a very different story in the US, where the Xbox Series X is up a massive $100 at $599.99. The 512GB Xbox Series s is now up $80 at $379.99, while the 2TB Xbox Series X has jumped by $130 to $729.99. The latter has attracted significant criticism online, with fans pointing out that the 2TB Xbox Series X now costs $30 more than Sony’s more powerful $699 PS5 Pro – in the UK, the PS5 Pro is still £110 more expensive at £699.99. In a post on X, one user wrote: ‘$730. For an outdated console whose entire library can be experienced better on all other platforms, they want $730!!?’ Another added: ‘Microsoft, you’re supposed to lower Xbox prices when it doesn’t sell well, not raise them!’ ‘As someone that doesn’t even like PlayStation I gotta say, at this price I’d rather just buy a f***ing PS5 Pro. I’m not defending Xbox no more. It’s over,’ another stated. Beyond the consoles, Microsoft has also said the price of some games will increase to $80 at the end of this year. A UK price is yet to be announced, but this will likely mean a £10 increase to £80 on the next Call Of Duty and other first party games. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said: ‘We understand that these changes are challenging, and they made with careful consideration. ‘Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players.’ While it’s likely Sony will announce a price increase to PlayStation 5 consoles in the US soon, in the same vein as the UK and Europe, these Xbox prices are certainly not a good look for a console Microsoft has already downplayed significantly in its marketing. More Trending These price hikes are noteworthy too because, as we’ve seen via Sony’s metrics, many people still haven’t made the jump to the current console generation – so this will only make it look less appealing, even when they are inevitably bundled with GTA 6 next year. The one winner amid all of these hikes is perhaps Nintendo, with the upcoming Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle now looking particularly reasonable at £429.99/$499.99. The big question moving forward is how this will impact the price of Sony and Microsoft’s next generation consoles, which are expected to arrive at some point in 2027. The PS5 Pro is starting to look reasonable (Sony) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

2025 just got a lot less exciting (Rockstar) Rockstar’s delay for GTA 6 has gone down as well as you’d expect with tortured fans, but some are seeing the bright side. After months of speculating when new GTA 6 footage could arrive, following the first trailer in December 2023, fans were dealt a cold blow by developer Rockstar this week. As announced on Friday, May 2, GTA 6 has been delayed from autumn 2025 to May 26, 2026. This isn’t too surprising, as Rockstar famously delays most of its games, but the new date is very far away, considering publisher Take-Two insisted the game would make its original 2025 window on multiple occasions. While the games industry at large needs titles like GTA 6 more than ever, it’s time to spare a thought for the fans who have been counting down the days for more information ever since the first trailer in December 2023. ‘Nothing like 13 years between games,’ one user wrote on the GTA Reddit in response to the news, referring to GTA 5’s September 2013 release date. ‘I believe [the] sun turns into a red giant before GTA 6 will come out,’ another joked (we hope). Meanwhile, others on the same thread fear there might be another delay, as Rockstar has historically launched GTA games in either September or October (except for GTA 4, which launched on April 29, 2008). ‘Doubt it’s May 26 next year,’ one user wrote, with another adding: ‘Almost guaranteed to be delayed even further to Sept 2026, just like GTA 5 was.’ Over on X, many fans in the US woke up to the news of the delay, which served as a kick in the teeth to everyone’s Friday. However, some who haven’t yet invested in a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S are seeing the bright side, as they have more time to save up for the console. More Trending ‘GTA 6 delayed to 2026 so I have more one more year until I need to buy a PS5,’ a user on X wrote. With GTA 6 no longer on the table, this year’s gaming slate looks to be carried by the launch of the Switch 2 on June 5, 2025. Elsewhere, Sony’s current slate includes Death Stranding 2 in June and Ghost of Yōtei in October, while Microsoft has Doom: The Dark Ages, The Outer Worlds 2, and whatever else crops up during the Xbox summer showcase. The first trailer was released in 2023 (Rockstar Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Sony drops iconic mascot from PlayStation Productions line-up Adam Starkey Published May 2, 2025 2:09pm Updated May 2, 2025 2:09pm Getting the sack? (Sony/YouTube) A staple PlayStation character appears to have been shoved to the side, as he disappears from a trailer ahead of the Until Dawn movie. LittleBigPlanet was once a key franchise for Sony during the PlayStation 3 era, but its prominence has dimmed over recent years. The last entry was 2014’s LittleBigPlanet 3 on the PlayStation 3 and 4, which was the first mainline game not primarily developed by original creator Media Molecule. Since then, protagonist Sackboy has had his own platformer in 2020’s Sackboy: A Big Adventure, along with a 2023 mobile game you probably didn’t know existed called Ultimate Sackboy. If it feels like Astro Bot has taken over as Sony’s default family friendly mascot, and that appears to have been confirmed in a new PlayStation Productions trailer. As highlighted by X user realradec, Sackboy has been scrubbed from the opening PlayStation Productions video at screenings of the Until Dawn film adaptation. ‘I don’t like this era of Sackboy erasure,’ they wrote. A screenshot of the character line-up in this version shows Astro Bot, Ratchet & Clank, Nathan Drake, the Psycho from Until Dawn, and others, but there appears to be no reference to Sackboy at all. Sackboy prominently featured in the 2022 PlayStation Productions trailer (as seen below), which was played before screenings of Uncharted starring Tom Holland. It’s unclear why Sony would drop Sackboy from the line-up, but the character has popped up elsewhere recently. Last year, Sackboy briefly appeared in an episode of Amazon’s Secret Level, so it’s possible this lack of representation is just an oversight. However, Sony hasn’t treated LittleBigPlanet fans with much respect over recent years. In 2024, Sony permanently shut down the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers on PlayStation 4 after it was targeted by mods which threatened the game’s security, wiping out access to millions of user-generated levels in the process. More Trending This came after Sony switched off the PlayStation 3 servers for LittleBigPlanet 1, 2, and 3 in 2021. An evolution of the user-generated levels concept was the basis of Media Molecule’s 2020 title Dreams, but despite positive reviews, it failed to find an audience, and support for the game was dropped in April 2023. It’s unclear what Media Molecule is working on next, and if it will see them return to Sackboy, but the studio was hit by layoffs in October 2023. Sackboy’s last major outing – will it be his last? (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

It’s not just consoles that are seeing a price rise (Microsoft) The Friday letters page blames publishers for not seeking alternatives to price increases, as one reader hopes that indie gaming will benefit from rising costs. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Higher and higher So that’s it then. £80 is clearly going to be the high-end for video game prices even before we’ve had the excuse of a new generation. Heck, it’ll probably be £100 or more when GTA 6 comes out.A part of me wonders whether this is Microsoft trying to make Game Pass seem like the only affordable option, but I don’t know if they’re really that crazy. Although based on how they’ve carried on recently… I couldn’t rule it out. I have no doubt that Sony will raise its prices to £80, although they may wait till the PlayStation 6, so as to appear like the good guys. I definitely think Nintendo has been unfairly criticised. You can see now that they’re trying to keep costs as low as possible and even the most expensive price for Mario Kart World is still less than £80. Much less digitally. You can bet other publishers won’t be so thoughtful though. Call Of Duty, EA Sports FC, Assassin’s Creed… any big game like that is going to be £80 sooner or later. The only question is whether they do it straight away or wait until GTA 6 is out and it raises the bar even higher. It’s not good and it’s not going to get better.Cranston Independent advice All I can say about the Xbox prices rises, and what’s bound to be industry wide price rises, is that thank goodness for indie games. It’s interesting that all this is happening just after Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 comes out and there’s a lot of talk of most of the best games of the year being indie.I haven’t played them all but Clair Obscur, Blue Prince, Bionic Bay, Citizen Sleeper 2 are all very highly rated and all very different. Which is more than you can say about most triple-A games. I’m probably being naïve, but I really hope this sudden price increase helps make people aware of indie games and how much better value they are, and how much more imaginative they are. Clair Obscur is £45 and I think that’s probably the most expensive I’ve ever seen an indie game. Keep that as the upper limit for everything and you wouldn’t be looking at pricing people out of gaming.Purple Ranger Just say no So now it’s Microsoft jumping on the bandwagon… consoles up, games up…People need to stop simping for these corporations and say no! £80 games is a disgrace, in a time where essentials like, you know, food, electricity, etc. are going up, games are not a priority and by the look of it they are not for the average person. The only way they will listen is if people simply don’t buy them. Vote with your wallets people.Kingshomari (PSN ID) Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Digital only I’m confused.com, why is Sony only price increasing the digital PlayStation 5? If the digital has less on it why does it need to go up? I could understand the disc version going up, because of the disc drive, but not the digital only.And as for Xbox, are they trying to lose the few people they have got still playing their console, buy increasing the price of games? This might be because Nintendo have done so on the Switch 2, well the way it’s going this will be my last gen I buy. I think prices are getting silly now. If only I could go back to the PlayStation 3 days of £40 a game, no in-game purchases and updates that were 1GB at most. I might sound old but boy do I miss the good old days.David GC: It’s not clear but the Xbox Series S also got a bigger price hike than the Xbox Series X. It may be that both of these cheaper options were being sold at or near a loss and Sony and Microsoft decided they could no longer continue with that. For what it’s worth, £40 in 2007 is £66.56 today, once you account for inflation. Award contender I know you weren’t fans of South Of Midnight but after just finishing I gotta say it had me hooked. I’m also not sure what else out there combines that kind of playful happy colour pallet graphics with such dark storylines. I was not at all prepared when the first one hit.Also, how much great music is in this game? It felt like every chapter had a track written for it that was different but fitted. I’ll be shocked if it’s not nominated for some game music awards at the end of the year. Lastly, perfect length. Not too long, not too short. Highly recommend it.Tim Previous form Very upset to see Codemasters in trouble. I knew this would happen when EA bought them, but I didn’t expect it to be the is quick. They only got to make one WRC game and now they’re not making any rally games at all? It’s a crying shame.My guess is that EA will have them making F1 games until the licence runs out, then EA won’t bother to renew it and that will be the complete end of Codemasters. If I was EA, I would’ve realised that their traditional focus on sports and relatively realistic concepts wasn’t working any more. Football and Madden are their only two sports games that do big business nowadays, Battlefield has never been properly mass market, and racing games just are not that popular anymore. How many developers have been shut down by EA over the years? Origin, Bullfrog, Maxis, Westwood Studios, Dreamworks Interactive, Mythic, Pandemic… I bet there’s tons more than even that. Codemasters’s used to be so varied and so very British but now all they do is make simulators and that’s enough of a shame. Having them just cease to exist in a year or two is going to be even worse.Bennett Touchscreen battle royale I had no idea Fortnite wasn’t on iOS, I thought that was sorted out years ago. I’m actually very surprised by that. It’s especially an eye-opener because it means that mobile was not a big part of Fortnite’s audience. I thought it was, what with it being ultra casual and everything.So what are kids playing Fortnite on? Is that why PCs have become big again? I’d be interested in hearing what other readers and their family play it on.Hacker Blame the customer It’s been said before, but it is incredible to me that publishers’ reactions to games costing to much is to immediately pass that cost onto ordinary customers. Make games shorter or limit their budgets? Doesn’t seem to have been considered for a second. It’s worse than that because it’s the idea that they’re in any way at fault that has been completely rejected.Despite the fact that they should’ve been planning for this moment for decades, they’ve done nothing and just made up their policies on the fly. It’s pathetic and, to be honest, they deserve to be punished financially for it. They won’t be though. People will just pay whatever they ask and while they might lose a few people around the edges, the fact the games are more expensive will make up for it. I do wonder what’s going to happen with GTA 6 though, not in terms of it increasing prices (that seems a given) but whether it’ll actually cause some publishers to go bust. EA already seems vulnerable, so if GTA 6 takes interest away from EA Sports 26 then what are EA going to do? Wish they’d invested in more franchises, I would have thought. But putting all your eggs in one basket is business 101 as far as most games companies seem to be concerned.Lumpy Inbox also-rans ‘You know what will solve the Xbox’s sales woes? Putting the prices up!’ – some overpaid suit at Microsoft, probably.AnonI’m not gonna buy an Xbox until they put the price up to a grand. I also think they should call the next generation Xbox Won. That will work.Ed The Xbox Series X is now £50 more expensive? Is Microsoft running the Xbox division as some sort of tax write-off or something?Gant I don’t know if GameCentral has seen this and it is slightly off topic, but there is a Kickstarter campaign for the full collection of UK and US comic books of Transformers! The campaign is being run by Skybound. It is 8432% fully funded!Andrew J. GC: We believe it broke the record for the most funding on Kickstarter in one day. But it’s too expensive for us, especially as the UK material is shrunk way down from its original size. More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is EA in danger of going under? Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 really out this year? Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Has Xbox gone completely third party? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Fortnite coming back to iOS if Apple accepts ‘peace proposal’ from Epic Games Michael Beckwith Published May 1, 2025 12:42pm Updated May 1, 2025 12:42pm Epic Games beat Apple… sort of, maybe (Picture: REUTERS) Five years after Fortnite’s removal from the Apple store, a US court ruling has given Epic Games the opportunity to have the game reinstated. Back in 2020, Epic Games kicked off a legal brouhaha with Apple after Fortnite was delisted from Apple’s storefront, meaning iOS players could no longer download the game or receive updates. Despite the lawsuit ending in 2021, neither side was wholly victorious on the matter and Epic Games tried dragging things out with an appeal that was rejected by the US Supreme Court last year. However, following a recent ruling against Apple, Epic Games has seized on the opportunity to make peace with Apple and get Fortnite back on the Apple store. For context, in 2021, US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple could no longer prevent developers from informing customers about alternative means of purchasing gaming content, like subscriptions and microtransactions, outside of the Apple store. This is what got Fortnite booted from the store in the first place, since Epic Games tried advertising its microtransactions without needing to sell them through the Apple store – meaning Apple didn’t get their cut of the money. However, the same judge has stated that, upon reviewing internal documents, Apple has violated this injunction, going so far as to say Apple’s vice president of finance Alex Roman ‘outright lied under oath.’ This means the company could face criminal contempt charges, but it’s also an opportunity for Epic Games, who immediately smelt blood in the water and published a statement about how it’s willing to let bygones be bygones… if Fortnite is allowed back on the Apple store worldwide. Is Fortnite coming back to iPhone in the UK? As it stands, Fortnite isn’t coming back to iOS in the UK yet. This being a US ruling means it only applies to the US but, per a write up by The Game Business, Epic Games’ ‘peace proposal’ requires Apple to make the ruling apply worldwide. Epic Games says it is ready to put Fortnite back on the Apple store in the US as early as next week, which would likely be followed by a worldwide release if Apple accepts the deal. In exchange, Epic Games will abandon all its litigation against Apple, as well as its plans to force its own storefront on Apple devices. For anyone thinking ‘Didn’t Epic Games already do that?’, you’re right, but that was only across the European Union. A change in EU law in 2024 allowed an Epic Games Store to be formed on iPhones and iPads, but the company has yet to make it available in the UK or anywhere else. At the time of writing, Epic Games’ website says, ‘Thanks to fair legislation being passed, we will be able to bring the Epic Games Store to the UK and Japan soon, and will follow suit in any other country that passes legislation allowing third party marketplaces on iPhone/iPad devices.’ However, it sounds like Epic Games may not bother anymore, should Apple accept its proposal. Especially since not only would Fortnite be allowed back on the Apple store, but Epic would be free to bypass the store when selling microtransactions. More Trending Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, after years of harsh criticism towards Apple, has gone to great lengths to present himself as the bigger man in the two companies’ ongoing feud, describing Epic as one of Apple’s ‘best partners for more than a decade.’ ‘I’ve been fighting Apple for a long time. But I’m an iPhone customer. This is an awesome device. I love having it. I don’t love the policies that Apple has made with respect to stores, but there’s a lot of respect of Epic towards Apple’s quality of product and focus,’ says Sweeney. ‘I hold out hope that there’s a way for Apple to get back on the right side of history here. I think this is a great time for Apple to consider doing that.’ Apple could very well opt to appeal the ruling, though, so it’s unlikely to accept Epic Games’ olive branch so readily. Or at least not right away. And just in time for the new Star Wars season (Epic Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Xbox games facing new £80 price tag as console prices rise by £50 GameCentral Published May 1, 2025 4:10pm Updated May 1, 2025 5:01pm Everything is more expensive (Microsoft) It’s not only Xbox consoles and controllers that are increasing in price but the games too, with Microsoft blaming adverse ‘market conditions’. Microsoft revealed only this week that sales of their various Xbox consoles are continuing a downward trend, with hardware revenue dropping by 6% in the last three months. Sales have been falling for years now and they’re unlikely to be helped by Microsoft’s latest annoucement: a worldwide price increase for all Xbox hardware… and software. Sony has already announced a £40 price hike for the PlayStation 5 digital edition, but not the disc version or the PS5 Pro. This was blamed on ‘a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.’ Microsoft’s justification is even vaguer, with mention only of unfavourable ‘market conditions’ and increased development costs – the latter a reference to the fact that major triple-A titles will be seeing a price increase to $80 in the US. $80 is only £60 but currently major titles in the US, such as Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 and most Sony first party titles, are priced at $70, with the equivalent in the UK being £70. That suggests that this new price increase will likely be £80. ‘We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration,’ said Microsoft in a statement. ‘Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players.’ What’s the new price for Xbox consoles in the UK? In terms of hardware prices, the Xbox Series X will see an increase of £20, to £499.99; while the 2TB Xbox Series X will increase by £40 to £589.99; and the Xbox Series S will see a massive £50 jump, to £299.99. For once, and no doubt thanks to the tariffs, the US seems to have it worse, with the Xbox Series X price rising $100 and the 2TB model up by $130. That means there is hope that the $80 price rise will not be as much as £80 and possibly will not happen at all, as at the moment all that’s been announced is the US increase. Would you pay £80 for the next Call Of Duty? (Activision) We asked Microsoft for clarification but were told only that, ‘Local pricing may differ across countries and platforms. These differences reflect regional considerations including foreign exchange rates and market conditions.’ The only real silver lining is that existing games will not increase in price, it’s just new titles from this Christmas. ‘This update will apply to physical and digital versions. That said, different games and expansions will continue to be offered at a variety of price points,’ says a new Q&A on the subject. The same website also notes UK prices for all Xbox controllers, but they’re less affected than the US, with only the Elite Series 2 (Full) seeing a £10 increase to £169.99. Next year’s Fable reboot may end up costing £80 (Xbox Game Studios) Why are video games getting more expensive? The news comes only weeks after Nintendo announced their prices for Switch 2 games, which vary considerably by title but at the highest end costs £67 for the digital version of Mario Kart World and £75 for a physical copy. More Trending As many suspected, this seems to be merely the vanguard of an industry wide wave of price rises. Rumours suggest that GTA 6 could cost up to £100 – with other publishers eager to charge the same for their games, if that price is accepted by customers. Video games are unquestionably more expensive to make now than they’ve ever been but it’s unclear whether that or tariffs are the primary reason for Microsoft’s software increase. Although tariffs should only affect the US, given most Xbox hardware is made in China, many companies, whether in the games industry or not, will be looking to limit price increases in the huge US market by also increasing prices elsewhere, if only by a smaller amount. Microsoft is never going to admit that’s the case, any more than Nintendo or Sony would, but it certainly seems as if a new era of more expensive video game software and hardware is firmly upon us. This is not good news (Picture: Microsoft) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 really out this year? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Hiroshi Kawaguchi still received a letter of appreciation from Sega for his years of work (X) The man responsible for the best video game soundtrack ever is technically still at Sega, despite just retiring. While a lot of people may not know his name, gamers of a certain age will already be massive fans of Hiroshi Kawaguchi. He’s the composer responsible for the music in Sega arcade game OutRun, aka the best video game soundtrack ever made. Although his most prominent work comes from 80s era games like OutRun, Space Harrier, After Burner, and Fantasy Zone, Kawaguchi has remained a part of Sega ever since, even contributing music to modern games like Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble and Sonic X Shadow Generations. After 41 years at the company, it wasn’t too surprising to learn Kawaguchi had retired, after turning 60 this past April. What is surprising though, is that Sega immediately hired him back. The official X account for Sega Sound Team (which collectively refers to all the musicians and composers employed at Sega) broke the news on April 30, announcing Kawaguchi’s retirement alongside a photo of him receiving a letter of appreciation from Sega. However, the same post stated that he will continue to work at Sega in his ‘second form.’ Kawaguchi corroborated this himself via his personal X account earlier today. ‘Starting today, I will be rehired as a new employee at Sega,’ says Kawaguchi, while sharing a photo of his original employment letter from 41 years ago and joking that he didn’t receive a new one. As for why this is happening, Time Extension theorises that it’s to do with Japan’s continuous employment system. Per Japanese law, companies have to set mandatory retirement ages. The minimum is 60 years old, which is how old Kawaguchi is now. However, companies are technically allowed to keep on staff who reach retirement age by effectively rehiring them under different terms. This means Kawaguchi will probably continue in the same or similar role that he’s always had. More Trending Hopefully, he’ll stick around long enough to do music for a new OutRun game. There hasn’t been a new entry since 2009’s OutRun Online Arcade, a digital only title you can’t even play anymore, after it was delisted from the Xbox and PlayStation stores. Sega’s interest in revisiting dormant franchises, like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi, has us hopeful that a new OutRun game could happen. If not, he should at least get to contribute to the OutRun movie that’s been greenlit. Said movie is just one of many film projects Sega has announced, which includes movies for Space Channel 5, Shinobi, Streets Of Rage, House Of The Dead, Comix Zone, and even Eternal Champions. None of them have release dates, though, with the exception of a fourth Sonic The Hedgehog movie that’s locked in for March 19, 2027. If the OutRun movie nets us a new game with a Kawaguchi soundtrack, it’ll be worth it (Sega) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has a secret Todd Howard cameo Michael Beckwith Published May 1, 2025 2:17pm Updated May 1, 2025 2:21pm You may not recognise him at first, but it’s definitely him (YouTube) Bathesda games director and producer Todd Howard has a hidden cameo in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered but only certain players will be able to meet him. Many would describe The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered as more of a remake than a remaster, thanks to its upgraded graphics and numerous changes to the combat and user interface. Bethesda insists, however, that it’s not a remake, since the goal was to recreate ‘the original game […] as you remember playing it, but seen through today’s technology.’ As such, many of the original Oblivion’s quirkier aspects, like the weird facial animations and various bugs, have remained intact. Recently, it’s been discovered this also includes the secret cameo by executive producer Todd Howard. Diehard Elder Scrolls fans are no doubt already familiar with Howard’s cameo and have likely checked to see if it was kept for the remaster, as demonstrated by TerakJK on YouTube. If you’re interested in experiencing the cameo first-hand, the good news is that it’s not especially difficult to find. The bad news is that it’s only possible on the PC version. How to find Todd Howard in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Todd Howard’s cameo in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is located in a hidden room that’s typically only accessible to developers, since it’s used for testing and debugging purposes. The only way to access the room yourself is by using console commands on the PC, which are debugging tools that many use to activate cheats. Some of the cheats for the original game still work for Oblivion Remastered, including god mode and flight. By pressing the ‘~’ button, you can open up a menu to input cheats. Type in the command ‘coc toddtest’, and you’ll be instantly teleported to the testing room where Howard, or rather his character, is. Howard doesn’t appear as himself in Oblivion, but rather as a character called Alban Corinis, who doesn’t appear in the full game. If you talk to him, he’ll say a line that’s clearly voiced by one of the game’s actual voice actors, but afterwards you’ll be offered a selection of dialogue options. More Trending Click any of these and you’ll hear a line voiced by Howard. Pick surprise, for example, and he’ll say ‘What? I didn’t know that. How could this be?’ in the least surprised tone imaginable. Obviously, Howard only lent his vocal chops for testing the disposition mechanic, where non-playable characters’ opinions and feelings towards you are reflected by in-game choices, so expecting a genuine performance out of his cameo is perhaps too much. His character’s disposition does change depending on what dialogue choices you pick though, so you can get Howard to profess his love for you or call you a b******, whichever you find most amusing. There are more characters to interact with in the room too and there’s another testing room you can explore with the command ‘coc testinghall,’ but there’s unfortunately no way to access any of them on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. The remaster should help ease the wait for Elder Scrolls 6 (Bethesda) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Super sexist Leisure Suit Larry franchise is being delisted from Steam GameCentral Published May 1, 2025 11:51am Updated May 1, 2025 11:51am It’s no loss to gaming but it’s not right for any game to just disappear (Assemble Entertainment) Almost all of the Leisure Suit Larry games are about to be removed from Steam and strangely it may have something to do with Codemasters’ troubles. The point ‘n’ click graphic adventure genre has long since ceased to be a mainstream concern for major publishers. There’s still the occasional example from indie developers but the golden age of LucasArts titles like The Secret Of Monkey Island and Day Of The Tentacle is well in the past. 2022’s Return To Monkey Island is the only recent example of one of the classic franchises continuing into the modern day but surprisingly the only other one still going is Leisure Suit Larry, which had a new entry as recently as 2020. For those that don’t know the series, they’re ‘sex comedies’ where you control a middle age pickup artist called Larry Laffer, as he lusts after various younger women. They’re not very sexually explicit but they are inherently sexist and painfully unfunny, although it’s not clear if that’s why they’ve been delisted. A post on Steam entitled ‘Time for Larry to Retire (Just a Little Bit)’ states that ‘After decades of questionable pickup lines and unforgettable adventures, it’s finally time for Larry to hang up his leisure suit – at least the retro version of it!’ That means that Leisure Suit Larry 1 through 7 (as a running joke there was no 4) and Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored will ‘soon’ be leaving Steam, although if you’ve already bought them, you will be able to still play and redownload them. The newer games Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry and Wet Dreams Dry Twice, by German studio CrazyBunch, are unaffected though, even though most people probably haven’t heard of those. It’s very hard to say what’s going on here as the original games, or at least compilations of them, are still available at GOG and Fanatical, unless they’re going to suddenly disappear as well. Although the games are embarrassing, with their initial success largely dependent on an audience of teenage boys, they’re not as outrageously objectionable as they sound, and no game should be erased from existence no matter what it’s like – although this is more likely to be a question of IP rights rather than censorship. Unlikely as it seems, it may have something to do with the current problems at Codemasters. They announced this week that they will not be making any more rally games, and it’s feared that they will be badly hit by the hundreds of job cuts at owner EA. Although they’ve done very little with it, Codemasters is believed to be the current owner of the Leisure Suit Larry IP. Or at least the original games. More Trending They published the particularly awful Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, by Team 17, in 2008 although they were so embarrassed to do so they did it under the Funsta label. Original publisher Sierra On-Line went bust in 2008 and a number of different companies have made and published Leisure Suit Larry games since then, with the most recent titles, which are unaffected by the Steam purge, being published by indie company Assemble Entertainment. Whatever the reason for what’s going on, things do not look good for Codemasters, with its main Twitter account having been taken down shortly after its WRC announcement. The publisher generally relied on other game-specific accounts for its announcements but, sadly, it all points to an ignoble end for one of the UK’s longest lasting developers. This is about as explicit as the original games got (Assemble Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Codemasters in danger as EA ‘pausing’ WRC and all future rally games GameCentral Published May 1, 2025 6:00am EA Sports WRC – the one and only (EA) A day after laying off up to 400 developers, EA has announced that it is ending its partnership with the World Rally Championship and stopping all rally games. EA has not had a good 12 months. Split Fiction sold well but EA Sports FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard were both sales disappointments, and at the same time as Apex Legends has seen a decline in profits. if EA Sports FC 26 does better then they can reverse their futures but it cannot be a coincidence that a day after they admitted to laying off up to 400 staff they’ve also discontinued use of the World Rally Championship (WRC) licence. Apart from 100 job cuts at Apex Legends developer Respawn it’s not known what the breakdown is of layoffs across the rest of the EA, but it now seems very likely that British developer Codemasters has or will be affected. Codemasters has been around since the 8-bit era and was the last big, independent British publisher and developer, before they were bought by EA for £1.2 billion in 2020. Since then, they’ve worked primarily on Formula 1 games for EA, the only exceptions being 2022’s GRID Legends and EA Sports WRC in 2023. Codemasters has a long history of making rally games, starting with the iconic Colin McRae Rally series, which evolved into the DiRT franchise. This was abandoned in favour of focusing on the WRC licence, but only one game was ever made. ‘Every great journey eventually finds its finish line, and today, we announce that we’ve reached the end of the road working on WRC,’ reads a message on EA’s website. ‘For now, we are pausing development plans on future rally titles.’ There’s not going to be a EA Sports WRC 25 (EA) No explanation is offered for why, but the game did not seem to be a major hit, and the job cuts alone indicate that EA is now firmly in money saving mode – especially as it already laid off nearly 700 people last year. More Trending Although EA has confirmed some ‘select changes within our organisation’ it has not commented on the figure of between 300 and 400 layoffs, or which studios are affected. For those that have already bought EA Sports WRC, it will continue to be available for redownload. If you’re interested but never got around to buying it, we’d advise picking it up straight away, as the loss of the licence will mean it will be withdrawn from sale. This is all yet more miserable news for the games industry as a whole, where the announcements of hundreds of job losses at a time have become routine over the last few years. It’s a particular blow for such a storied developer as Codemasters, who may now be stuck making nothing but Formula 1 games for the foreseeable future. F1 25 is due to be released on 30th May for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Codemasters’ rally heritage runs deep (Codemasters) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is EA in danger of going under? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Is anyone safe in the current games industry? (EA) The Thursday letters page hopes Persona 6 is like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as one reader predicts a Resident Evil 9 reveal at Summer Game Fest. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Dead end I really don’t know what the endgame is for the games industry, with these constant job cuts. 700 from EA last year, 400 now, who’s going to be left to make their games? All the people with the skill and experience will have long ago left or been kicked out.I know it’s hard in tech in general at the moment, but I thought video games were supposed to be art? You don’t find the sort of technically minded artists you need to make a video game hanging around the average job centre. All this knowledge and skills is being lost, possibly never to return. I really worry that EA is going to go under. Not that I have any love for EA, given how few of their games I buy, but it’s another cornerstone of gaming that is suddenly looking very unsteady. I don’t want to be too defeatist, but I really feel like gaming has got itself into such a rut that it’s not going to get. In the future gaming will just be Fortnite and the dozen or so other live service games that never seem to die (minus Apex Legends) and that’ll be it. Everyone else will just be indie games.Ansel The moneymakers It’s a real bummer that they may have almost got Titanfall 3 finished and then EA canned it anyway. I know we don’t know that’s what happened for sure, but that sort of thing happens sometimes with movies, and I get the feeling it does with games as well.It goes to show you though, that when we’re all complaining about boring mass market games like EA Sports FC and Call Of Duty, they are breadwinners for these companies. Like Assassin’s Creed for Ubisoft. It doesn’t make any difference for Activision, who don’t make any other games, but EA does, a bit, and it’s completely in character that they’d immediately stop as soon as things get dicey. So I hope EA Sports FC 25 does sell, or otherwise we won’t get any more Split Fiction style games or Star Wars titles.Carton Bottom of the barrel I am struggling to think of a Zelda spin-off that would be less desirable than Hyrule Warriors 3. Maybe it sells in Japan but it doesn’t seem to in the West, so I really cannot understand it. Maybe they thought it was a way to compensate for people wanting to play as Zelda? I hate to say it, but they wanted to play as her in a Zelda game (and now can) not in a Dynasty Warriors spin-off.I would’ve taken literally any remaster or remake over this, or any kind of spin-off you can name. Link’s Crossbow Training 2 would’ve been more appealing than this. Same goes for Kirby: Air Riders. Both choices are so bizarre and feel more like Nintendo lost a bet with someone than a sensible choice for a launch window game for their new console.Loanstar Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Paying the rent Call me crazy but is being able to use two copies of a game at the same time online not a bit entitled? I mean… why should you be allowed to do that? It never even occurred to me to even try. Why stop at two copies, why not three or four or infinite?We all want free stuff but where does it end? Not every company is Microsoft or Amazon, some of them have to earn money to keep going and video games is all Nintendo does. Not that I’m not saying their games are expensive, but I think we should save that complaint for when we see what PlayStation 6 games are going to cost. Because I’m willing to bet they won’t have dynamic pricing, depending on what the game is. Let’s face it, everything is too expensive at the moment, but I can’t honestly say that Nintendo is ripping us off. Not unless Mario Kart World turns out to be awful, which it’s obviously not going to.Benson Colourful rumours I think everyone said this before Persona 5 was announced but Atlus sure love taking their time with the next game. As far as I can work out the only thing that’s really leaked about it so far is the colour scheme, so we basically know absolutely nothing so far.My hope for the game is that they do overhaul the combat, because that is beginning to look really long in the tooth compared to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I realise it’s too late for that game to have any real influence on Persona 6, but Atlus should realise that is the new gold standard for turn-based battles.Lampy Summer dreams So, the Resident Evil 9 reveal is definitely going to be at Summer Game Fest, right? Capcom’s used it before and we’re well overdue a look at the game, so I’m going to choose to believe it will be there.I’ve not really been feeling this year for games so far. I haven’t bought anything new that’s been out and since I’m not getting a Switch 2 there’s nothing on my radar either. Obviously, I’m getting GTA 6 but I could do with more to look forward to than that. Especially since we don’t know when it will be out. Resident Evil 9 will do very nicely for a start but if we’re fantasising then I’d like to see something on the new Bioshock that’s been rumoured for years, then The Witcher 4 would be good, and the new Tomb Raider too. Yes, I know we probably won’t get any of those, other than Resi, but these games have been hanging around in the background for so long now I’m not sure if they’re even still getting made. I realise it’s all because games take so long to make now but some of these must have been talked about for well over five years. It’s really time we started to see some results.Gascoigne GC: Resident Evil 9 could well be at the Summer Game Fest, but since it’s very unlikely to be out this year it’s by no means certain. Price checker A big thanks to reader Euclidian Boxes for the recommendation of Deku Deals. I’ve signed up to it and added some Switch (2) games on my list. It is very useful to see the price history too.I’ve already noticed that the Mario games I have on my saved for later list at Amazon are already out of stock for one or two months.Charlie H. Low cost future Completely agree with all the praise for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I’ve only played it for six hours or so, but I absolutely love its nods to old school role-players like Final Fantasy 7, while also being its own thing and making its characters feel like real people.I also agree with the reader who said that it was a real shame that Ubisoft let these talented developers slip through their fingers and go off and form their own company. Clearly it turned out great for Sandfall, but why couldn’t Ubisoft have let them make this and have a whole new franchise to run into the ground… oh, I guess I’ve answered my own question there. But in all seriousness, with all the layoffs still going on at the big publishers I really hope the idea of these sort of ‘super indie’ games take off. I don’t mind paying last gen prices for a game of this quality. In fact, I’m quite happy to be rewarding individuals that have entertained me with a quality game, rather than giving it all to a faceless corporation who’s probably only interested in me as a customer if I buy a bunch of skins and DLC as well. So bien joué to Sandfall and I hope they can be an example that many others will follow. Just please don’t let yourself get bought up by Microsoft or Sony as soon as you hit it big.Tony T. Inbox also-rans I thought Call Of Duty was going to stop with these gimmicky skins? Seth Rogan and those two guys from Clerks is almost as stupid as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.GorkerI would love to see Nintendo try a new Star Fox game, but I think it’s been too long since it was popular for it to get any real traction with younger fans. The whole animals flying spaceships thing is really weird to anyone that’s not used to it.Dusty More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 really out this year? Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Has Xbox gone completely third party? 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Super Stoner Bros. (Activision) Superbad and Donkey Kong actor Seth Rogen is an operator in the next season of Call Of Duty, as a new Star Wars TV show premieres in Fortnite. Following the addition of Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob earlier this month, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone is keeping up the stoner theme in its next seasonal update. Seth Rogen, known for comedy films such as Knocked Up and Superbad, voicing Donkey Kong in the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and having his own cannabis brand, will be an operator in Call Of Duty’s Season 3 Reloaded as part of the High Art event pass. The High Art pass will have two tiers: one free and one premium. In the free track, you’ll be able to unlock stickers and emblems themed around the actor, but Rogen’s operator will be locked behind the premium tier, alongside weed-themed decals, a laughing emote, and a multi-coloured operator skin. When will Seth Rogen be released in Call Of Duty? Rogen’s operator will be available when Season 3 Reloaded starts on Thursday, May 1. The season is set to start at 5pm BST in the UK, which translates to 9am PT in the US, across all platforms. The season runs for two weeks and concludes on May 15, 2025. To unlock Rogen as an operator, you’ll have to purchase access to the premium track of the High Art event pass for 1,100 COD points, which is around £10.99. As outlined in a blog post, the rest of the season includes two new multiplayer maps (Haven and Signal) in Black Ops 6, a Joint Operations limited time mode, new modes for Zombies, and updates to the Verdansk map in Warzone. Rogen is locked behind the premium tier (Activision) When does the Star Wars event begin in Fortnite? Call Of Duty isn’t the only juggernaut shooter on the brink of a big event, as Fortnite is about to kick off another collaboration with Star Wars. Fortnite: Galactic Battle is set to kick off on Friday, May 2, 2025 at 3pm BST in the UK and 10am ET in the US. During this event, players can play as Darth Jar Jar, General Grievous, or Emperor Palpatine, and pilot X-wings and TIE Fighters around the map. The event will also see an early premiere of new TV show. If you head to the Star Wars Watch Party Island on May 2, you can watch the first two episodes of Star Wars: Tales Of The Underworld before it arrives on Disney+ on May 4, 2025. More Trending Star Wars: Tales Of The Underworld is a six-episode series which follows bounty hunters Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane, characters who were last seen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch and The Book Of Boba Fett, respectively. However, Ventress originally debuted in 2003 animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars and Cad Bane first appeared in 2009, as part of the CGI driven The Clone Wars. While this is the first time a Disney+ show has premiered inside Fortnite, the game has staged watch parties for other media in the past, including the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s 2020 film Tenet. Its most infamous Star Wars crossover though was featuring the backstory to Emperor Palpatine’s revival in The Rise Of Skywalker, which, incredibly, was not explained in the actual movie. Darth Jar Jar is a thing (Epic Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Balatro is no joke (Playstack) Sony has announced the PS Plus line-up for May, and fans of dinosaurs, Warhammer, and deck builders will be very pleased. While it’s usually possible to predict what the biggest games of the year will be at the AAA level, the best thing about indie titles is they can come out of nowhere and steal the conversation entirely. That was definitely the case for Balatro, a poker-themed roguelike deck builder created by solo developer LocalThunk, which went onto sell over 5 million copies and secure a Game Of The Year nomination at The Game Awards. If you haven’t yet been ensnared by its addictive qualities, Balatro will be available as one of the free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in May. The game will be available to both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 owners from Tuesday, May 6 for anyone who is subscribed to the PlayStation Plus essential tier. While it’s perhaps better suited to handheld devices like the Nintendo Switch and mobiles, it’s worth taking for a spin on Sony’s console if you haven’t yet tried it – especially if you have a PlayStation Portal. More Trending Other games about to debut include Ark: Survival Ascended, a revamped version of 2017 dinosaur survival sim, Ark: Survival Evolved, in Unreal Engine 5. The game launched in early access in 2023 to a mixed reception, and based on Steam reviews it hasn’t changed much since, but it supports up to 70 players online if you fancy some chaos. The final game on the May line-up is Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, a retro first person shooter which is a fascinating curiosity – even if it does get repetitive after a while. All of these games will be available to claim from May 6 to June 2, 2025. It’s worth noting you can just add them to your library during this time and download them later, as long as you have a PlayStation Plus subscription. You still have until May 5 to pick up this month’s games, which includes RoboCop: Rogue City, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory. It’s a mixed bag in May (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Titanfall 2 – a sequel is probably never going to happen (EA) An insider has claimed a cancelled Titanfall project was actually very close to completion, despite what others have reported. A sequel to Titanfall 2 has been rumoured for years, but it always seemed unlikely after the last game failed to meet EA’s sales expectations. The hopes of a sequel were recently stoked by prominent leakers for developer Respawn’s other shooter, Apex Legends, who claimed the next Titanfall game was an extraction shooter which was ‘almost complete’ and would be announced next year. Other insiders refuted this idea, but the existence of another Titanfall project was thrust back into the spotlight when developer Respawn announced the cancellation of ‘two early-stage incubation projects’ earlier this week. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, one of these cancelled projects was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe, codenamed R7. ‘It was not close to being released,’ the report states. Following the project’s cancellation, the two original leakers, Osvaldatore and Yorotsuki, have now doubled down on their claims, insisting it was actually ‘almost finished’. ‘Titanfall 3 is gone,’ Osvaldatore wrote on X. ‘Spoke again with source earlier this morning and everything about it was correct, including the ‘almost finished’, despite what that Bloomberg article said.’ While Schreier does have a very strong track record, and Respawn itself said it was in the ‘early stage’, these leakers were the first to suggest that it was an extraction shooter – so it seems they do have some insider knowledge. The biggest question is whether it was actually Titanfall 3, or if it was, like Apex Legends, merely set in the same fictional universe. The latter would make more sense, as Titanfall 2, while critically acclaimed, wasn’t exactly a commercial hit. Back in 2023, former Titanfall developer Mohammad Alavi revealed Respawn had worked ‘in earnest’ on Titanfall 3 for ‘about 10 months’, before it was ditched in favour of Apex Legends. At the time, Alavi said: ‘Titanfall 2 came out, did what it did, and we were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make Titanfall 3,’ and we worked on Titanfall 3 for about ten months, right? In earnest, right? More Trending ‘We had new tech for it, we had multiple missions going, we had a first playable, which was on par to be just as good if not better than whatever we had before, right? But I’ll make this clear: incrementally better, it wasn’t revolutionary. And that’s the key thing, right?’ As for whether Titanfall 3 could ever happen, it probably won’t materialise in the near future. Respawn is currently working on the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and is co-developing upcoming strategy game Star Wars Zero Company. More importantly it has to struggle with the fact that the audience for Apex Legends is stagnating and 100 staff have just been laid off, primarily those that were working on the new game – whether it was Titanfall 3 or not – and another unannounced title. Sadly, no incoming Titanfall(EA) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Highest rated game of 2025 is already 20% off on PS5 and Xbox Adam Starkey Published April 30, 2025 2:01pm Updated April 30, 2025 2:02pm Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is even better value for money now (Kepler Interactive) A major contender for Game Of The Year has already been discounted across PS5, Xbox and PC, as a film adaptation gets underway. There have been several excellent games released in 2025 so far, including Citizen Sleeper 2, Split Fiction, and Blue Prince, but the most surprising might be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Developed by new studio Sandfall Interactive, the French turn-based role player is an original IP which packs the vocal talents of Daredevil’s Charlie Cox and Andy Serkis from The Lord Of The Rings. Along with receiving critical acclaim, it has sold over one million copies within just three days. If you haven’t yet jumped into its brand of dark fantasy, various retailers have already discounted the game across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC, less than a week after it launched. On Amazon, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been reduced by 18% to £40.99 on PlayStation 5, while the Xbox Series X version is 20% off at £39.99. There is a bit of a wait for physical copies (delivery is currently listed between May 13 to June 2) but the developers have assured more are on the way to various retailers, in light of the demand. ‘We are aware that we have sold out of physical editions at various retailers,’ a post from the developer reads. ‘Our distribution partners are looking into re-stocking. Sorry, the demand has been higher than expected in many regions. Please stay in touch with your local stores for more info.’ If you’re an eager beaver on PC, Fantatical is selling Steam keys for £33.59, which is 20% off the usual £41.99 price. The deluxe edition, which includes additional outfits and hairstyles, is also down to £39.99. Cheap deals on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Amazon – £40.99 on PlayStation 5 (18% off) Amazon – £39.99 on Xbox Series X (20% off) Fanatical – £33.59 on PC (20% off) The success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 makes a sequel almost inevitable but it seems like publisher Kepler Interactive was confident in the IP before it even launched, as a movie adaptation was officially announced back in January. More Trending As reported by Variety earlier this year, Sandfall Interactive has teamed up with Story Kitchen (the same company developing movies for Just Cause and Streets Of Rage) on the project. Casting and directorial decisions are said to be underway, with Story Kitchen founders Dmitri M. Johnson and Mike Goldberg serving as producers. ‘We’re thrilled to collaborate with Sandfall Interactive to bring the rich, immersive world of Expedition 33 to the big screen,’ a statement from Story Kitchen reads. ‘The game’s compelling narrative and complex characters provide a solid foundation for a cinematic experience that will resonate with both gamers and moviegoers alike.’ As seen with the success of A Minecraft Movie, movie adaptations of video games are doing big business at the moment. However, the biggest ones are in the family-friendly mould, like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic The Hedgehog, so it remains to be seen if the mature themes in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 can find similar success on the big screen. An adventure worth taking (Kepler Interactive) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Massive Nintendo Switch update prepares console for Switch 2 but not everyone’s happy Adam Starkey Published April 30, 2025 10:49am Updated April 30, 2025 10:49am The Switch has some new features (Nintendo) Nintendo has added a bunch of new features to the Switch, to make it compatible with the Switch 2, including Game Share and virtual game cards. The Nintendo Switch 2 is just over a month away, and while people scramble to pre-order the console, a new Switch update has arrived teasing what’s to come. On Thursday, April 30, Nintendo rolled out firmware update 20.0.0 for the Switch. While these updates usually offer minor system improvements, this one comes with several key new features to prepare the console for the Switch 2. One of the big new additions is the virtual game card system, which allows players to move digital games to another console (if it’s linked to the same Nintendo Account), or lend games to people within the same Nintendo Account family group. As outlined by Nintendo, you can lend up to three virtual game cards, along with all its DLC, at a time, but receivers can only borrow one game at a time (so you can’t borrow games from multiple people at once). These virtual game cards can be lent to a family member for 14 days, after which they’ll be automatically returned to the original user. The update also adds Game Share, which allows Switch 2 players to share games with other consoles (original Switch included) and play at the same time over a local wireless connection. It’s important to note, Game Share can only be initiated from a Switch 2 console to other nearby systems – so you can’t use Game Share between two original Switch consoles. In other words, it’s useless at the moment. Perhaps the most crucial addition is the system transfer option to the Switch 2, so you can upload all your save data to a server and move it across to the new console. After you do this, your original Switch will effectively be wiped and returned to its original factory settings, so you should only do this when you actually have the Switch 2. There are some other minor additions too, including colour changes to the Nintendo eShop and News icons on the home menu, which are now red and green, respectively. Also, Nintendo has replaced Donkey Kong’s character icon with the new redesign from Donkey Kong Bananza, so hopefully you weren’t too attached to Rare’s version. Amid all these additions, there is one caveat. As pointed out on ResetEra, this update now stops people from playing online simultaneously when sharing digital games across two Switch consoles. More Trending You can still share digital games and play offline simultaneously though, as long as you activate the new ‘Online License’ option under user settings. It’s unclear why this specific change has been implemented, or if it was an unintentional loophole to begin with, but it’s a bit of a nuisance if you share a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and want to race online at the same time. For every detail in the update, you can check out the patch notes. If your system hasn’t updated yet, head to the settings menu and under ‘system’, check ‘system update’ and it should be available. The Switch 2 is set to launch worldwide on June 5, 2025, with Mario Kart World leading the games line-up. Mario Kart World – the Switch 2’s killer app (Nintendo) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 really out this year? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

EA cuts up to 400 jobs after FC 25 and Apex Legends sales collapse GameCentral Published April 30, 2025 1:00am Things are not looking good for EA at the moment (EA) Titanfall developer Respawn has been badly hit by EA’s latest round of layoffs, with at least two new games being cancelled this year. Giving up the name FIFA, because it was becoming too expensive to licence, was a big risk for EA, but it seemed to pay off when EA Sports FC 24 was just as big a hit as ever. But last year’s EA Sports FC 25 was not and after multiple reports of it selling below EA’s expectations the company has laid off over 300 employees across multiple studios. The job losses that have ravaged the video games industry since the end of the pandemic haven’t been in the news as much lately, but they’ve never gone away. In fact, they’ve been sadly consistent, at over 1,500 layoffs every quarter, since last summer. Over 30,000 developers have lost their jobs since 2021 and after cutting 670 jobs last year EA has made another massive dent in their staff numbers, with anything up to 400 redundancies across Respawn Entertainment and others. The problem is that not only was EA Sports FC 25 a disappointment, but live service game Apex Legends has also seen a decline in business over recent months, with many of the layoffs centred around developer Respawn. EA has not confirmed the exact numbers, but Bloomberg suggests that between 300 to 400 jobs have gone in total, with 100 layoffs at Respawn. This has led to two Respawn games being cancelled, although it’s unclear if rumours of Titanfall 3 were ever true. One unknown title was canned earlier in the year but the other was an unannounced extraction shooter set in the Titanfall/Apex Legends universe and codenamed R7. Respawn has confirmed that it has cancelled ‘two early-stage incubation projects’ and made ‘some targeted team adjustments across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi.’ EA Sports FC 25 has not been on target (EA) The third and final Star Wars Jedi title has already had a rocky start, after series creator director Stig Asmussen left Respawn, and nothing has been shown of the new game yet. ‘As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we’ve made select changes within our organisation that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth,’ is the purposefully non-descriptive comment from EA. Fan discontent with EA Sports FC 25 has been obvious for months now but it’s unclear exactly how much it has missed EA’s internal targets. The obvious concern for EA is how this year’s EA Sports FC 26 will fare, especially as it is likely to be released around the same time as GTA 6. More Trending Likewise, there’s no indication of exactly how much trouble Apex Legends is in, although Respawn has emphasised that work on it continues and that they are currently ‘expanding what Apex can be’, while ‘investing in what’s next for the franchise.’ The only underperformance with any context is last autumn’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which sold half of what EA was expecting – although it was never going to be as big a moneymaker as EA’s core franchises. Since Star Wars Jedi 3 is likely to be several years away, EA is currently focusing a lot of effort on Battlefield 6, which is due to be released before March next year (a decision that may be dependent on when GTA 6 arrives). However, given Battlefield’s uneven sales performance over the years, that’s not a very safe pair of hands. For a long time now, FIFA has been the backbone of EA’s business but if that begins to waver then EA, and the games industry at large, could be in for even more turmoil. Apex Legends is six years old this year (EA) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

GTA 6 – Borderlands 4 is a big clue to its release date (Rockstar Games) The Wednesday letters page thinks 2027 is too soon for the PS6 and next gen Xbox, as one reader gets very excited about Mario Kart World. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Making way I don’t know who Gearbox think they’re fooling with this ‘reverse delay’ for Borderlands 4 but there is no way they changed the release date for any reason other than GTA 6. Like GC said, what difference is 11 days going to make, if it was only because the game was ahead of schedule?Now they’ve got to change all their marketing, hope fans and retailers get the memo, and all for zero benefit. There’s no way they did this because they wanted to. So, as far as I’m concerned, that confirms that GTA 6 is out this year and is going to be out somewhere in late September or early October. Which is exactly what you’d assume it was going to be all along. Maybe it’s a bit later than that – I’m not sure what sort of blast radius Take-Two thinks Borderlands 4 has to escape to – but I don’t think it’s going to help. Nobody is going to be playing Borderlands 4 when GTA 6 has just come out.Cocomo No Switch too I bet Rockstar are loving this. Not only is every game developer trying to stay out of their way, but it seems Nintendo are as well. The only other reason I’m thinking that Nintendo are doing a summer release is GTA 6 will be out on the Switch 2 and they want the console out before it’s out, for a good three to six months.No other game is going to be entertained unless you’re not a fan of GTA, which isn’t that many.David GC: We’re pretty sure that’s not the reason. Generation Why I know it’ll have been seven years for this gen, by the time we get to 2027, which is about right for a console generation, but there is no way that the PlayStation 6 and new Xbox aren’t going to be seen as too early by everyone.The Switch will be over eight years old when it’s replaced, and it has achieved so much. Classic after classic, almost every franchise has had its best entry ever, and the hardware is starting to show its age. It absolutely needs to be replaced and everything I’ve seen of the Switch 2 so far shows it to be a very well thought out follow-up. What is the PlayStation 6 even going to do? You can guarantee there’ll be very little improvement in graphics, so what then? We’re not at plugging it into your brain levels of tech yet so I really don’t see what could possibly justify. They’ve got a handheld as well, according to the rumours, but that sounds like it’s just cut-down PlayStation 5 and remote player. It’s not Sony’s fault exactly but we’ve just reached the end of what can be done with affordable hardware. In an ideal world that would mean concentrating on games, as Nintendo does, but I don’t know. That never seems enough for Sony and Microsoft and especially not Sony at the moment. I fear more gimmicks, more price rises, and more people being pushed towards the PC as a format.Dio Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Family set I have managed to pre-order three Switch 2s.Not for any nefarious scalping reason. One for me and one each for my two kids. Another reader mentioned Currys and I did find this the ‘easiest’ to pre-order it from. Just go into a shop and pay. My others are from Amazon and ShopTo and both were via an email of ‘you have 24 hours to complete your order’. I missed the ShopTo email, but they fortunately sent me another one. The experience probably echoes a lot of comments people have made about benefit of physical stores. Because, I will say, Currys was easiest. All a moot point now, as pre-orders are all gone.Si-Zero Sales story For the reader trying to get Golf Story for a good price, I recommend a website called Deku Deals which tracks prices of games both digital and physical.It shows that the recent sale on Golf Story is the cheapest it’s been, but also that it goes on sale quite frequently and lately for around the same cheap price. This should mean you’ll be able to pick it up on sale once you have your Switch 2. I use it to check any titles I’ve newly wishlisted to see if they go on sale often, how big a discount I might expect and whether it’ll be worth waiting for the drop.Euclidian Boxes GC: We’ve never heard of that site before, but it seems very useful. Interactive TV Hi, first time writer!Have been a PlayStation owner since the PS1 and not had an Xbox since the Xbox 360. I was really happy to hear about Indiana Jones and Forza Horizon 5 coming to the PlayStation, as those are the Xbox exclusive games I really wanted to play. I usually buy physical copies of games, so was a bit bothered about having to buy Indy digitally but was willing to do so having seen your positive review. There was another game my five-year-old son wanted called Little Kitty, Big City, which again wasn’t on PlayStation. So, to my surprise I got a notification on my LG TV that the Xbox app is now available to download. Once downloaded, it showed Game Pass available through the app, without the need for the Xbox console and for £14.99. With Indy and Little Kitty on Game Pass it was a no-brainer! And I get to play both Forza games and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as well and all by connecting my DualSense to the TV. Everything has worked flawlessly so far and has saved me nearly £150 on the games I was going to purchase for my PlayStation. Very surprised how effective cloud gaming via the TV is and excited to see where it goes from here!Yas Spend to save Thank you to GC, for the advice in my letter yesterday. I’ve purchased Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and it never crossed my mind that a £7.99 upgrade path was a possibility for Switch 2. I was oblivious to that crucial nugget of information.Bought the game from Cash Generator instead of CeX, since it works out cheaper at £34.99. Once again, I appreciate the sentiment.Shahzaib Sadiq Beyond perfection I can’t quite convey just how ridiculously excited I am about Mario Kart World. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was one of a handful of games this past decade and a bit that I’d consider a genuine 10/10 experience (alongside Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Super Mario Odyssey, Resident Evil 2 remake, and Bayonetta 2), so naturally my anticipation for the ninth entry in the esteemed series has been feverishly high.I’ve been dreaming of a reinvention in the series since the last game, a Breath of the Wild/Ocarina Of Time/Super Mario 64/Metroid Prime moment, if you will. And one of my most wanted features was an adventure style mode, to add significant deviation and substance to the single-player process, à la Diddy Kong Racing. But World has seemingly gone above and beyond this wish with its Test Drive Unlimited/Forza Horizon/Burnout Paradise influenced racing playgrounds. From what I’ve learned thus far from previews, the sense of vehicular adventure, creativity and emergent racing possibilities is a level above the aforementioned games, with a distinctly Nintendo approach to traversing the open world. I’ve seen some purists already whinge that the shift to open world will feel incongruent and dilute the essence of Mario Kart and its looping, varied track design. But frankly I feel like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe virtually perfected that formula and so welcome this radical change and the sheer ambition of what Nintendo are attempting with World!Galvanized Gamer Inbox also-rans What an odd thing for Larian to say about DLC, calling it ‘boring’. Isn’t it down to them whether it is or not? This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone suggest the whole concept of DLC is now good.LatamoreI really hope Blizzard is planning to make Overwatch 3 because that will be such a disaster it’ll be hilarious to watch the fallout. They messed everything up with Overwatch 2 and just ploughing on regardless is not the answer. They need to take things back to what made the game great, not just add even more junk no one wants.Crimp More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Has Xbox gone completely third party? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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Blizzard needs a bit of a help with its sequels (Blizzard Entertainment) Blizzard is apparently planning new sequels for Overwatch and StarCraft but the rumours suggest they won’t be making both of them themselves. Back before the global rise of eSports, professional StarCraft tournaments were a big deal in South Korea, with mainstream television coverage and a competitive scene that persists to today, despite the lack of any new games since StarCraft 2’s launch in 2010. There was a remaster of the first game in 2017, but a recent report claims that Activision Blizzard is finally looking into making a new game, through a partnership with, appropriately enough, a South Korean studio. This partnership will also involve the creation of a new Overwatch – one that’s apparently labelled as Overwatch 3 internally – although before you get too excited, that one’s said to be a mobile game. The report comes from South Korean outlet MTN, which says Blizzard Entertainment has been shopping round for a collaboration in the region ‘since the fourth quarter of last year.’ Blizzard was offering ‘content development rights’ for StarCraft as well as the rights to publish an Overwatch mobile game in South Korea and Japan. Given how big StarCraft is in South Korea, it’s no surprise that multiple studios leapt at the opportunity. Ultimately, Blizzard has selected Nexon, known for hugely lucrative online and mobile franchises such as MapleStory and Dungeon Fighter Online, as well as online multiplayer shooter The Finals. It’s also the South Korean and Japanese publisher for EA Sports FC Mobile and has a number of other mobile games under its belt. It’s no stranger to premium game releases though, having recently launched Soulslike The First Berserker: Khazan for PC and consoles. There’s no telling what form the new StarCraft game could take at this point, although you have to imagine it will be a traditional real-time strategy game akin to previous entries – likely with a strong emphasis on multiplayer. More Trending That’s what’s popular in South Korea, but last year it was claimed that a StarCraft shooter is in the works at Blizzard. Although given the company’s history, it’s entirely possible the project’s been cancelled. It’s unclear what formats the new StarCraft game might be for, but apart from a N64 version of the first game it’s traditionally been PC only. Given Nexon’s experience though, a mobile version would not be a surprise. The new Overwatch is definitely a mobile title, according to the rumours, but the fact that it’s supposedly dubbed Overwatch 3 suggests it’s not just a mobile port of Overwatch 2, but its own game. Although the report is vague, the implication is that Blizzard will make it and that Nexon will get the Korean and Japanese publishing rights, as part of a package deal with the StarCraft development deal. After the whole debacle with Overwatch 2’s launch, announcing another sequel probably wouldn’t go down well with fans (Activision) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Battersea organises virtual pitch invasion of AI dogs to promote adoption Michael Beckwith Published April 29, 2025 4:09pm Updated April 29, 2025 4:10pm Research says young people who play games are more likely to adopt rescue dogs (Battersea Dogs & Cats Home) A new rescue dog adoption campaign is appealing to gamers by recreating a selection of dogs in live video games. In an effort to encourage gamers into adopting a rescue dog, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Pedigree have made AI generated copies of actual dogs and modded them into a football game. Eight dogs made an appearance during a livestreamed match of a game on Twitch, streaking across the pitch, much to the surprise of viewers. Battersea and Pedigree haven’t specifically stated which football game it’s used for this promotional campaign, but you have to assume it was either EA Sports FC 25 or Konami’s eFootball. You can see individual clips of the AI dogs over on Dailymotion, all of which have real life counterparts that are currently available for adoption. This comes amid research conducted by Pedigree that says 32% of Gen Z gamers, aged 18 to 30, have already adopted a rescue dog while 85% would consider it. By comparison, when non-gaming members of Gen Z were surveyed, 70% says they’d consider it. ‘Owning a dog can be incredibly rewarding but does require a lot of commitment, training and patience – all things that are needed for gaming too,’ says Battersea Dogs & Cats Rehoming Manager Sofia Papaloizou. ‘Rescue dogs are incredibly special and it’s great to hear that so many gamers are already enjoying the wonderful companionship of a rescue pet. We hope that this campaign will not only help find a home for the dogs involved but also showcase how unique every rescue dog is and inspire more people to consider adoption when looking to get a pet in the future.’ More Trending According to Pedigree brand director Ed Owen, part of the goals for this gamer-centric campaign is to also clear up misconceptions about dog ownership, which is assumed to be why less than half of Gen Z (48%) have adopted a dog of their own. ‘At Pedigree, championing rescue dogs is part of our purpose and our DNA, we’ve broken new ground with this campaign by creating canine avatars to reach new potential pet parents,’ says Owen. ‘Whilst this campaign has a fun side, there is a serious purpose behind it all – we want as many rescue dogs to be rehomed as possible to the right home and to challenge the misconceptions young people have of the sorts of dogs in rescue centres like Battersea.’ The campaign’s official website includes links to information for the eight dogs featured in the game mod. At the time of writing, one of them has already been adopted. Do you feel more encouraged to adopt? (Battersea Dogs & Cats Home) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

There’s a new key visual for the game too (Gearbox) Gearbox has shared new dates for Borderlands 4’s launch and its own State of Play presentation, in a mighty suspicious calendar change. Too often do video games get delayed that it’s always a surprise when the opposite happens. In this instance, it’s Borderlands 4. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford broke the news early by accident, in a video on X (which he subsequently deleted but has since reuploaded), but it wasn’t long until a more official confirmation was made on social media. In addition, a date for a new State of Play showcase focused only on Borderlands 4 (which was teased during the February presentation) has been revealed, although new gameplay footage will be unveiled as early as this week. What is the Borderlands 4 release date? Originally, Borderlands 4 was scheduled for September 23, but now it’ll release a whole 11 days earlier on September 12, for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. The reason for this, according to Pitchford, is because development has been progressing smoother than expected: ‘Everything’s going kinda the best case scenario, the game is awesome, the team is cooking, and so the launch date for Borderlands 4 is changing. We’re moving it forward.’ You don’t need us to tell you that never usually happens and there’s no sensible reason why they’d suddenly change the release date, and all the existing plans for the game’s launch, for the sake of 11 days. As for the State of Play, that will air on Wednesday, April 30 at 10pm BST, via the official PlayStation Twitch and YouTube channels. It’ll only last for 20 minutes or so, but the PlayStation Blog promises a lot of new gameplay featuring ‘missions, killer weapons, exciting Action Skills, new and returning characters, and more.’ Not only does Gearbox’s reason for the release date change make little sense but there’s a much more convincing explanation, and that’s that they’re trying to get out of the way of GTA 6. Since Rockstar Games owner Take-Two Interactive is publishing both titles, it no doubt wants a healthy distance between Borderlands 4 and GTA 6, which still only has a vague autumn release window. There was a theory that GTA 6 would be out before Borderlands 4, but that’s looking even less likely now that the latter’s launching early. As a reminder, Mafia: The Old Country, another Take-Two game, is aiming for August 8 according to a leak. What is the GTA 6 release date? While other publishers are left to guess when GTA 6 will be out, Take-Two knows for a fact and the obvious assumption, resulting from Borderlands 4’s release date change, is that GTA 6 will be out either late September or early October. That would put it in the same month as Sony’s Ghost Of Yōtei, which was recently given a launch date of October 2, and which many saw as a risk as soon as it was announced. If there’s anyone else that knows GTA 6’s release date, outside of Take-Two, it’s probably Sony though, with rumours that they will help with the marketing of the game. There’s no evidence of that, but if it is true then Borderlands 4’s release change begins to make less sense. More Trending Last year, former Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij, who served as technical director on noughties era GTA games, admitted that the decision to delay 2008’s GTA 4 out of 2007 didn’t happen until four months before the original launch date. As such, Vermeij expects any GTA 6 delay won’t be decided until May at the earliest, something he reiterated in a new X post about GTA 4’s 17th anniversary. ‘The original release date [for GTA 4] was October 16th, 2007, in time for Christmas,’ wrote Vermeij. ‘We made the decision to delay the game in July 2007. Only at that time did it become clear we were going to miss the deadline. I’m guessing decision-day for [GTA 6] will be similar.’ So while Borderlands 4’s release date change is highly suspicious it’s not quite the smoking gun it at first seems. Do you think GTA 6 will be out this year? (Rockstar Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

PS6 and next gen Xbox out by 2027 reveals cancelled game report Michael Beckwith Published April 29, 2025 2:13pm Updated April 29, 2025 2:13pm Will you be picking up a new console at launch? (Metro) A cancelled Blade Runner game was apparently going to launch in two years time and would’ve been available for current and next gen consoles. Even though some will feel like the current generation of consoles still hasn’t hit its peak, new PlayStation and Xbox consoles are much closer than you may realise. Microsoft has admitted it’s working on new Xbox hardware, with its next console promising the ‘largest technical leap’ yet. Sony hasn’t been as forthcoming about the PlayStation 6, but it has made it clear it remains committed to the console market. The running theory is that we could see new consoles arrive within the next two years, which has found new support in a recent report about a cancelled Blade Runner game. For context, Insider Gaming alleges that Supermassive Games, the studio behind Until Dawn and the upcoming Directive 8020, was working on a ‘cinematic action adventure’ game set in the Blade Runner universe. The goal was to have it out in September 2027, not just for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC, but also ‘Gen 10’ systems, referring to Sony and Microsoft’s next consoles. The report doesn’t mention if this means Supermassive already has access to dev kits for the new consoles but, at the very least, it shows the studio knows, or is at least confident, that the hardware will be available in two years. It’s entirely possible Sony informed Supermassive of this, since the two companies have a close working relationship. Although Supermassive was never a Sony subsidiary, its first decade was spent developing PlayStation exclusives – what is commonly referred to as a second party relationship. While Supermassive’s games tend to be multiplatform nowadays, it still made 2023’s The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR one of the first exclusives for the PlayStation VR2. When will the PS6 be released? A 2027 launch has always been a safe assumption, with other insiders claiming that both the PlayStation 6 and the next Xbox console are on track for that year. Whatever the case, they’ll certainly arrive within close proximity of each other, since neither Sony nor Microsoft will want the other to launch new hardware unopposed. Curiously, it’s sounding as if Sony and Microsoft will be embracing handheld devices for the next generation, no doubt influenced by the success of the Nintendo Switch and handheld PCs like the Steam Deck. More Trending Microsoft has already said it’s planning an Xbox handheld this year, but it sounds as if it’s one of two devices the company is working on. The second being a traditional nextgen console. Rumours point to a similar approach for Sony, with recent claims that the PlayStation 6 will come in two different models: a regular home version and a handheld device. This could be Sony and Microsoft’s answer to the biggest issue facing new gaming hardware, which is that consoles can’t get any more powerful without the improvements being so nebulous that no one will notice. The appeal of better graphics has become increasingly niche and if Sony and Microsoft want to keep turning a profit on hardware, dedicated handhelds could be what they need to attract new audiences. Upgraded hardware like the PlayStation 5 Pro are for a very specific audience and not general consumers (Sony) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Baldur’s Gate 3 boss criticises ‘boring’ DLC and explains new five year plan Michael Beckwith Published April 29, 2025 10:41am Updated April 29, 2025 10:41am Some new content has been added through patches, but there’s never been a paid expansion for Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) Larian Studios is effectively done with Baldur’s Gate 3, but no DLC plans means it can focus on its next two role-playing games. Thanks to the overwhelming success of Baldur’s Gate 3, it felt like a safe bet that developer Larian Studios would pump out at least one DLC expansion. In fact, the studio began discussing the possibility in the wake of the game’s launch in August 2023. Many months later though, and whatever plans Larian had were abandoned, with studio boss Swen Vincke announcing that there would not only be no DLC, but it wouldn’t be helming the inevitable sequel either. Theories of a falling out between Larian and Dungeons & Dragons licence holder Hasbro aside, Vincke has since given a simpler and blunter explanation for the lack of DLC: it would’ve been boring to make. Vincke recently spoke with GameSpot, to discuss the future of Larian, his thoughts on AI in game development, and plenty of other topics. The subject of Baldur’s Gate 3’s abandoned DLC plans came up, with Vincke specifically asked why Larian was not in the ‘DLC business.’ ‘It’s boring,’ Vincke answered, adding that there is simply ‘no passion’ for it within the studio. ‘I mean happy player, happy business, but you also need a happy developer for a happy player. What we’re doing now makes developers way more happy. It very much sounds like plans for Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC only began out of obligation, since Larian felt it was something it was supposed to do. According to Vincke, ‘The moment that we had some time to think, we realised, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Progressive insight is not a bad thing, so sometimes you go down the wrong path and then say, ‘Oh f*** it’, and just change course.’ It’s a strange position, that Vincke doesn’t really explain, but the previous two Divinity: Original Sin games also didn’t have any DLC, so apparently Larian just doesn’t like making it. The closest there’s been to DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3 is numerous patches, that have added new features to the game. The latest one dropped just a couple of weeks ago, introducing new subclasses and a photo mode, although Larian swears this is the last major update for the game. More Trending Elsewhere in the interview, Vincke mentioned that Larian is ‘deep in the trenches’ on its next project, which is ‘shaping up quite well’ and is ‘crazy ambitious.’ As a reminder, Larian is juggling development on two new role-playing games. Only the biggest studios can manage two triple-A titles at once, and even then they usually make only one and several smaller titles. But in this case Vincke wants games developed in parallel, so that the larger first team can quickly move over to help the smaller second once they’re finished. ‘I hope I can tell you five years from now: We cracked it. We figured it out. This is what we’re doing now,’ says Vincke, who is aware the approach is a risk. ‘… And when game two is going to be ready, we already have another thing that’s gonna come. If we can make that work in a really good way, that we enjoy our lives, that’s gonna be mission accomplished.’ Whatever comes next from Larian, a lot more people will be paying attention thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Forza Horizon 5 – now available on PS5 (Xbox Game Studios) One of the Xbox’s most acclaimed exclusives is now available on PS5 and it’s the best open world arcade racer ever made. Microsoft’s blockbuster Forza racing franchise comes in two contrasting flavours. Its Motorsport games are sober, poker-faced affairs that sit comfortably alongside Gran Turismo in their dedication to simulating car racing as accurately as possible. Forza Horizon, on the other hand, is open world, centres around a colourful made-up festival of speed, and generally takes itself a lot less seriously than its sim-orientated older brother. They both feature a vast line-up of cars and tracks, fastidiously authentic car handling, and a range of different motorsports. They both also clearly want you to enjoy yourself, letting you rewind time when you mess up a series of corners or a tricky overtaking manoeuvre, but Horizon’s open world and far more varied set of challenges make it look and feel about as riotously entertaining as a driving game could possible get. More important than all of that, is that alongside Halo, Forza is a founding pillar of Xbox exclusivity. The term killer app now sounds quaintly old fashioned, but the Forza franchise has helped encourage a generation of players to buy an Xbox just to play the game. Its playful brilliance, marrying accurate car physics with an irrepressible sense of knockabout fun has been a Microsoft system seller for decades. Until now that is. Forza Horizon 5 is the first game in the long running series that you can enjoy on PlayStation. It’s a momentous occasion. Like the moment you could finally play Sega’s jealously guarded mascot Sonic the Hedgehog on a Nintendo GameCube, or saw Mario on your mobile, there’s a peculiar cognitive dissonance that comes with playing Forza using a DualSense. Exactly how committed Microsoft is to the multiformat concept to is anyone’s guess, but for PlayStation owners this is a watershed moment. Set in an artfully designed microcosm of Mexico, Forza Horizon 5 is a near perfect apotheosis of the series so far, helped by the extraordinary variety of roads and countryside you’ll explore. As in past Horizon outings, roads are strictly optional, and even exotic supercars can cheerfully plough through crash barriers and small trees, bouncing across swamps and scrub land on their way to your next destination. From the azure seas of its coastal roads, through gloriously colourful jungle, mangrove swamps, desert, and, at the heart of it all, the biggest mountain the series has ever seen, Horizon’s Mexico has been built purely for entertainment. There are hairpin-laden switchbacks for drifting, long straights to test your car’s top speed, and the narrow cobbled streets of old towns to tear through at suicidal velocity. The game’s hugely varied set of challenges encourages a range of approaches using its collection of over 500 vehicles. There are speed cameras to trigger, dirt rallies, night races, performance car challenges, vintage events, and racing meets featuring various nationalities’ automobiles, delivered through the game’s rotating Festival Playlist that changes as it cycles through four seasons. There are also plenty of non-race events to keep you distracted, such as the discrete open areas created to let you show off your drifting and stunt skills. Driving around a brightly coloured and tourist free recreation of the spectacular ziggurats at Chichen Itza, you can do doughnuts and make unlikely jumps off its ancient ruins in a way that in real life might not go down too well with Mexico’s Department of Antiquities. Chichen Itza is just one of 12 Horizon Realms built for exactly those type of stunts, with leaderboards to compare your skill scores with virtual tourists from around the world. These were previously timed, one-off events that once expired you could never replay, but are now continuously available with the launch of the PlayStation 5 edition, in a change that’s also available as an update for Xbox players. It’s no better or worse than on Xbox Series X (Xbox Game Studios) A common complaint about open world driving games, and one that dogged both Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown and The Crew 2, is that while races are tightly focused competitive affairs, that really get the adrenaline flowing, driving between them can end up being unexpectedly dull. Forza Horizon 5 prevents that in several ways. The first being the variation in its landscapes, with roads that demand quite different driving styles. The other is in the range of things to do as you plunge cross country, from A to B. There are experience point-giving signboards to find and smash, others that reduce the cost of fast travel, and rewards for discovering new roads as well as just about everything you do on them. Overtaking, near misses, drifts, burnouts, and even smashing through roadside cacti all clock up rewards in an endless procession of miniature victories as you drive to your next event, sometimes on roads and sometimes bouncing across the wilderness in-between. It looks and sounds just as wonderful on PlayStation, and while it makes perfectly adequate use of the DualSense’s haptics, it’s not markedly different from playing on Xbox, whose controllers generally don’t offer the same degree of subtlety in their physical feedback. It’s certainly a world away from Gran Turismo 7’s masterclass in haptics, which let you experience everything from road feel to rain effects through the palms of your hands. More Trending Load times are possibly fractionally shorter, but aside from the higher resolution patch available to PS5 Pro owners, this is almost exactly the same game as it was on Xbox Series X. That includes some fairly prominent microtransactions, that the game leads you towards early on in your driving career, which in a full priced title feels like an unwelcome imposition. In terms of pure driving fun though, Horizon is in a class of its own, and while PlayStation owners can’t yet play Forza Motorsport, they still have Gran Turismo 7, giving them access to arguably the two best driving games of the modern era – which is not a claim Microsoft can make for Xbox. For PlayStation owners the news is all good and, if you like racing games, Forza Horizon 5 is a joyous, brightly coloured extravaganza of motoring, even if you can’t help feeling it would be even better without the toe-curling dudebro petrolhead banter. Forza Horizon 5 PS5 review summary In Short: Thrilling open world driving peppered with a massive variety of challenges, events, racing styles and carefully orchestrated, motoring mayhem, as one Xbox’s tentpole exclusives arrives on PlayStation 5. Pros: Wonderful miniature recreation of Mexico, incredible diversity of cars and events, and brilliantly engineered simcade handling model makes the open world lively and engaging. Cons: Premium upsells in a paid-for game are always gross. The contrived wisecracking is as embarrassing as ever. Doesn’t take full advantage of the DualSense controller. Score: 9/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £54.99Publisher: Xbox Game StudiosDeveloper: Panic Button (original: Playground Games)Release Date: 29th April 2025Age Rating: 3 Presumably Forza Horizon 6 will be multiformat from the start (Xbox Game Studios) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. 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Indiana Jones And The Great Circle – bigger on PS5 (Bethesda) The Tuesday letters page explores the connection between Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Ubisoft, as one reader wonders at PlayStation’s summer showcase plans. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Taking over It is startling to think that Microsoft is now, for all intents and purposes, a third party publisher and almost nothing else. They make their own consoles but nobody’s buying them and I really can’t see that changing with any of their hinted at portable machines.The really weird thing is that’s not a negative, as we learn that, predictably, Indiana Jones And The Great Circle has sold a lot more on PlayStation 5 and PC than any other format. I am interested to see how well sales for Forza Horizon 5 go though, given that was released a lot longer ago and has had plenty of time to rack up a lot of sales. I don’t think you can make any direct comparisons though because it’s all mixed in with Game Pass and Microsoft don’t give straight sales figures. I can’t see PlayStation fans not liking though and that’s got to mean that the next one, and probably every other Microsoft game, is going to be on PlayStation 5 right from the start. With Doom to come soon as well, Microsoft are one of the PlayStation 5’s biggest providers of quality games this year – much more so than Sony.Teebo Call for help I’ll be honest, I had no idea Sony had even announced a release date for Ghost Of Yōtei, which I guess goes to prove the point in the recent Reader’s Feature. There’s no point me repeating the phrase ‘I don’t understand’, like everyone else, but needless to say I don’t.If Sony don’t have a proper summer showcase this year, I’m just going to take that as a call for help from the execs. Maybe they should just let PlayStation be sold to Xbox. Microsoft is desperate to be in charge and has tons of games coming up but Sony feels like the opposite. At least put Microsoft in charge of their software department, since most of the best PlayStation 5 games lately are ex-Xbox games. Strange, isn’t it?Cubby Splinter group Very glad to hear Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is doing well; I had no idea it was the highest rated game on Metacritic. I also did not know that the developer was made up of a bunch of ex-Ubisoft people. I hope Ubisoft is looking at the game’s success and wishing they hadn’t let these people go and let them make what they wanted instead.Clair Obscur really seems the opposite of a Ubisoft game: it’s original, it’s innovative, and it looks and feels very French. Ubisoft spend all their time trying to appeal to American gun nuts and then we find out that the games their developers would rather be making are a lot more interesting. Not particularly picking on Ubisoft, I bet it’s like that at most other publishers. Probably most other creatives anywhere.Sanky Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Console required Regarding the Golf Story offer, I did create an account, so I was all ready to go on the day. When I tried to buy the game, it asked me to turn on my Switch console to purchase it, so alas it wasn’t possible to purchase it without having an actual Switch console to hand.This was the message I received on the E-shop website: ‘In order to continue, please access Nintendo eShop on the console linked to this Nintendo Account.’ It’s a shame it didn’t give me the opportunity to purchase a digital code, because that was an option with the Mario platformers I was looking at. I will just wish list it now and wait for a better offer. Can’t see it being down to 2 quid though, until at least Black Friday, and I don’t want to wish the year away. Hopefully Everybody’s Golf isn’t far away.Charlie H Summer holidays That ‘explanation’ for why the Switch 2 is coming out in June sounds like baloney to me. Maybe I’m being overly cautious but when I buy a brand new £400 console it’s not my first thought to take it on holiday with me to the beach.My actual first thought is to sit at home and play it for endless hours, which is not really that convenient in the sweltering heat of summer, whether I’m on holiday or not. We all know big games aren’t usually released in the summer and neither are consoles, for good and obvious reasons. I’d say this is at least 80% down to GTA 6. Yes, Nintendo were running out of new games and probably wanted to just get the console out there but there’s no way June makes sense unless you’re trying to stay out of the way of Rockstar.Chuck Rock Just ask My secret to preordering the Switch 2? Walked into Currys a week after they started taking pre-orders and asked to pre-order one. Only thing is I had to pay in full upfront, but at least I don’t have to worry about paying for it in June now.This morning, I randomly really wanted to play a game I haven’t played in years. Couldn’t remember its name for about an hour and suddenly remembered: Shadow Hearts. Between the first two games (and Vagrant Story), I spent many a happy hour. Both had such unique battle mechanisms; I would really love to see them remastered but it’s unlikely to ever happen (considering Shadow Hearts’ studio doesn’t make games anymore and I don’t think Vagrant Story was a success). Finally, I’ve seen a lot of talk about golf games recently, but what’s the best mini/adventure golf game? I remember thoroughly enjoying Rugrats mini golf back on the N64 but haven’t played any in years. Any recommendations (with a decent single-player campaign ideally) are welcome. Keep up the good work!Solabound GC: Is that from Rugrats In Paris: The Movie? Either way, you could try Cursed To Golf or What The Golf? Strange timing I would kill for more Advance Wars games on the Switch 2. I don’t particularly want to use mouse controls with them, but if showing the option off is the price for getting the game made then I’m all for it.I agree that Kid Icarus: Uprising not getting a Switch 2 is pretty crazy too. I really have no idea who would ever be interested in Kirby: Air Riders or how Nintendo could have possibly thought it was a good idea to release it the same year as a new Mario Kart. That’s the sort of thing you save until the middle of the generation, because there is no new Mario Kart. Very hard to understand.Jimbo Prequel preference So, since I had the luck, and I say that as an understatement, of pre-ordering the Nintendo Switch Mario Kart World bundle three weeks ago, directly off Amazon in the UK, it has unfortunately sold out at essentially every retailer. I figured to myself, why not double the fun?So, it’s no secret that Nintendo has their own version of Final Fantasy; Xenoblade Chronicles to be more concrete. It’s a renowned franchise, that’s spawned a trilogy and continues to flourish, as the centrepiece of Nintendo’s exclusives. So today I take a trip to town and pursue the Nintendo section, at everyone’s favourite second-hand retailer. Probably the only second-hand retailer left in the UK. I’m pondering which exclusive to cash in my £32 store voucher and I was considering buying The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom. However, there’s an upcoming prequel for it releasing soon, in Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment. So I finally settled on 2025’s mammoth release, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. The second reason I passed on Tears Of The Kingdom is the fact that it is releasing, alongside the first instalment as an enhanced version, for £64.99. That is the version I plan to pick up, in the future, alongside Breath Of The Wild. I’ve always desired to try out and experience Xenoblade, as a first time gamer and a newcomer. When my Nintendo Switch 2 is finally in my hands, my wish will transcend to an exciting and lengthy playthrough. On a side note. I’d also appreciate Eternal Darkness on the GameCube emulator. That is another title that I’ve been waiting to experience; a journey of twisted insanity.Shahzaib Sadiq GC: You could’ve bought Tears Of The Kingdom for Switch 1 and paid £7.99 to upgrade it on Switch 2. We assume the CeX price was considerably less than £64.99. Inbox also-rans GC, please tell me, how come online gaming on consoles is paid for but Steam is free?HenryGC: It has nothing to do with Steam per se, since online gaming is free on all PC and mobile games. Consoles are closed systems, where the console manufacturers themselves maintain most of the servers and services. Charging for that is an important part of their business model. I’m surprise we’ve never had a Resident Evil kart racer. I’d rather have one than all those lame multiplayer games they keep making.Madson More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Which franchises do you want to see on Switch 2? (Nintendo) The release schedule for the Switch 2 is a mystery beyond this year but what secrets are Nintendo working on and when might they appear? Several important Nintendo franchises haven’t been announced for the Switch 2, as well as some less important ones that could flourish on the console. There were plenty of exciting game reveals at the Nintendo Switch 2 showcase, particularly from Nintendo itself. Although the likes of a new Mario Kart and 3D Donkey Kong were expected, they nonetheless made strong first impressions, but you also had genuine surprises like a new Hyrule Warriors and a Kirby Air Ride sequel. However, a decent chunk of Nintendo’s announcements involved ports of Switch 1 games (a couple of which aren’t even out yet), leaving several big names oddly absent. It’s obviously still early days, but it’s surprising Nintendo didn’t even mention some of its most important franchises. As such, we’ve scoured the entirety of Nintendo’s library to highlight the games missing from the Switch 2’s line-up, from those guaranteed to make an appearance to those that deserve it because they could make the most of the console’s new features. 1. Super Mario Most people would have predicted a new 3D Mario platformer to be among the Switch 2’s first batch of games. Instead, Nintendo is focusing on Donkey Kong and while it won’t confirm anything, Donkey Kong Bananza is assumed to be being helmed by the 3D Mario development team. As such, a new 3D Mario game is either further off than expected or the team is somehow working on two games at once. With the second Super Mario Bros. movie out in 2026, that would make a lot of sense as a release date but the team has never made two major games in quick succession like that before. If a new 3D Mario is a long way off, Nintendo may look to fill the gap with a new Super Mario Maker. Both the original and the Switch sequel were very successful, with the latter including enough pre-made levels to count as a whole separate game. A third game on the Switch 2 would not only be more intuitive and easier to use, thanks to the mouse controls, but could potentially go beyond the 2D format and let you create full 3D levels. That’d be the perfect compromise if the Super Mario Odyssey successor is still years away. 2. Luigi’s Mansion 4 It’s been three years since Mario Strikers: Battle League Football but there’s no word on what developer Next Level Games is currently working on. Given how underwhelming that last game wound up being, it wouldn’t be surprising if Nintendo opted to play things safe and put the team to work on a new Luigi’s Mansion. Considering Nintendo has had enough faith in the spin-off series to remake the original game for the 3DS and then remaster the sequel for Switch last year, a fourth Luigi’s Mansion seems almost certain. Previous games have always had very advanced visuals for their hardware, especially Luigi’s Mansion 3, so it’d be great to see what Next Level Games could cook up on Switch 2. The new hardware could let them do more with the last game’s advanced physics engine and the mouse controls could be used for new gadgets Luigi acquires. 3. Animal Crossing It’s still baffling that despite the overwhelming success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo’s post-launch support only lasted 20 months. With no further content planned past that, you have to assume the development team had already moved onto the sequel. That in turn suggests that a new Animal Crossing is going to turn up fairly early in the Switch 2’s lifetime, perhaps as early as next year. New Horizons was too successful for Nintendo to abandon the series (it’s the company’s second best-selling Switch game, at 47.44 million units) and the Switch 2’s GameChat feature feels tailor made for multiplayer sessions between friends. We could see the mouse controls making item customisation a lot easier and possibly allow for more intricate designs for clothing and furniture. A bigger island to cultivate feels like an obvious step forward, but maybe the sequel could go even further and let you create multiple villages across various islands, thus addressing the criticisms about how New Horizons limited you to one island per system. 4. Splatoon 4 The Animal Crossing studio is the same one responsible for Splatoon and it seems it’s capable of juggling both series at once, considering Splatoon 3 only launched a couple of years after New Horizons. Given how massive Splatoon is in Japan, it’s surprising there wasn’t at least a small tease for a Splatoon 4 at the Switch 2 Direct, but it can’t be long until a new game is announced. Splatoon has an active eSports scene, so you’d think Nintendo wouldn’t want to take too long with Splatoon 4. Splatoon 3 wasn’t as much of an evolution of the formula as many fans would’ve hoped, playing things unusually safe for a Nintendo sequel. It’s limited to a degree by it’s multiplayer scene but the game will be in need of new ideas beyond just additional weapons and one-off gimmicks. 9. Pokémon Gen 10 Pokémon is already set to debut on Switch 2 with Pokémon Legends: Z-A later this year, but that is only a spin-off and we’re due for the next mainline entry within the next couple of years, which will usher in a new generation (Gen 10) of pocket monsters. New mainline entries like Pokémon Scarlet & Violet typically arrive every three to four years and since Generation 9 was in 2022, it stands to reason that Gen 10 is being saved for 2026. Especially since Nintendo and The Pokémon Company typically like to have a new game out every year and 2024 saw no new releases whatsoever. Some Gen 10 details may have already leaked thanks to last year’s terahack incident, with new claims suggesting the region is inspired by the islands of Greece. 5. Fire Emblem Fire Emblem is another major Nintendo franchise that’s clearly going to make an appearance on Switch 2 eventually. It’s not just a matter of when though, but whether the next entry will be something entirely new or another remake. We don’t doubt series developer Intelligent Systems is busy with something Fire Emblem related right now. While it’s not the only Nintendo franchise it’s responsible for, its last two games were WarioWare: Move It! and the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake, so it’s due a return to Fire Emblem. Given the gaps between new Fire Emblem games seem to typically be three to four years, the next one may not be ready till 2027 – since Fire Emblem Engage came out in 2023. There have been long standing rumours of a Fire Emblem 4 remake, though, and if that’s still happening, perhaps Nintendo and Intelligent Systems could have it ready for 2026. The possibility isn’t too farfetched considering the company already has a history of sitting on near completed games, until it finds an empty slot in its release schedule. Whatever the next game is, it stands to greatly benefit from the Switch 2’s mouse controls, which could also see the scale of the action change – perhaps with a meta strategy element like the Total War series. 6. WarioWare Like we said, Intelligent Systems is probably prioritising Fire Emblem at the moment, but it can clearly juggle multiple projects at once and it’s already surprising a WarioWare game hasn’t been announced for Switch 2. Previous entries have often made full use of Nintendo’s hardware gimmicks for their microgames, be it the DS’s touchscreen and microphone, the Wii’s motion controls, or the Wii U’s GamePad. That’s why they often come out at or near launch, although this time round the Switch 2 Edition of Super Mario Party Jamboree seems to have filled some of that role, by demonstrating strange uses for the mouse controls. Alternatively, Intelligent Systems could be working on an entirely new IP, as it’s also been responsible for lesser known games like the Pullblox/Pushmo puzzle series (which ruled) and Code Name: S.T.E.A.M (which drooled). However, it’s stuck to Fire Emblem, WarioWare, and Paper Mario for the last 10 years, so there’s little to suggest it’ll break away from that for its Switch 2 debut. 7. Advance Wars If Intelligent Systems was going to break away from its routine our top pick would be for another Advance Wars. The Switch 2 is the perfect platform to bring it back, thanks to its mouse controls – which could open up new gameplay opportunities that’ll help the series evolve in meaningful ways, distinct from Fire Emblem. It doesn’t necessarily need to be Intelligent Systems either. The excellent Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp remake was handled by WayForward, so we’d be happy to see it try an entirely new game or even remakes of the two DS games. A less likely alternative would be a revival of the Battalion Wars spin-offs, which was more of a real-time tactics game with third person shooter elements. The original developer is no longer around, but whether Intelligent Systems or WayForward took over, Battalion Wars would definitely benefit from the Switch 2’s mouse controls as well. 8. Star Fox Some Star Fox fans might still consider it one of Nintendo’s main franchises, but we doubt the company itself feels the same way anymore. After 2016’s Star Fox Zero bombed hard at launch, reportedly selling not even half a million copies, Star Fox seems to be dead in the water (barring an official release of the cancelled Star Fox 2). Stranger things have happened though. Star Fox Zero itself arrived 10 years after the last new entry (not counting the Star Fox 64 3DS remake in 2011) but if Nintendo did decide to give the series another shot, it probably wouldn’t be with an internal team. The smartest move might be to pass Star Fox onto one of Nintendo’s partners. PlatinumGames and Bandai Namco already have experience with the series or why not commission Star Fox 2 developer Argonaut Games, now that it’s re-opened? If Nintendo doesn’t want to spend resources on a new project or a remake/remaster, it could at least port Star Fox Zero to Switch 2, since it’s much better than its reputation suggests – especially as the worst part were the weird Wii U specific controls. Nintendo franchises confirmed for Switch 2 So far, eight of Nintendo’s existing franchises are slated to make an appearance on Switch 2, either with brand new entries or enhanced ports of Switch 1 games. Mario Kart – Mario Kart World (June 5, 2025) Mario Party – Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV (July 24, 2025) Donkey Kong – Donkey Kong Bananza (July 17, 2025) The Legend Of Zelda – The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (June 5, 2025), The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (June 5, 2025), and Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment (winter 2025) Metroid – Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (2025) Kirby – Kirby And The Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (August 28, 2025) and Kirby Air Riders (2025) Pokémon – Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (late 2025) 10. Pikmin Despite never having the strongest sales, Pikmin has maintained a consistent presence thanks to it being the baby of Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin 4 reinvented the series to be a lot more approachable and became the best-selling Pikmin game, so the wait for Pikmin 5 may not be very long. Although Pikmin 4 has strayed the furthest from the real-time strategy inspirations of the first game, a sequel could still benefit from optional mouse controls for ordering pikmin around. It could even allow for a new game to have more strategic elements, although that will be a bit odd because Pikmin 4’s success came from taking many of the existing ones out. Given that, a spin-off may be the best way to go if Nintendo wants to take its time with Pikmin 5. Nintendo enlisted another studio, Eighting, for assistance with Pikmin 4 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe so perhaps it could helm its own spin-off while the main team focuses on Pikmin 5. 11. Xenoblade Chronicles Although Xenoblade Chronicles 3 acted as the culmination to the series’ ongoing storyline, developer Monolith Soft has said it wants to keep it going ‘as long as possible.’ So, the real question isn’t whether there’ll be another Xenoblade games, but rather what form it will take. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story DLC strongly insinuated that it inhabited the same universe as Xenosaga, the series’ spiritual predecessor that Monolith Soft worked on before Nintendo acquired the studio. As such, could Xenoblade 4 actually be a new Xenosaga instead? Comments by series director Tetsuya Takahashi also suggest that any Xenoblade sequel would be ‘vastly different’ to what came before, which could mean a dramatic overhaul of its core gameplay. Combat in Xenoblade is comparative to MMOs, but could a sequel embrace full real-time action like Final Fantasy 16 did? Or if it’s continuing Xenosaga, swap to a traditional turn-based formula? We know Monolith Soft has begun work on a new role-playing game, with Takahashi in the director’s chair, meaning it’s likely the next Xenoblade or a new successor. Whatever the case, it could arrive sooner than expected since despite regularly assisting with other Nintendo projects, Monolith Soft has managed to turn out four Xenoblade games throughout the Switch’s lifetime. Two of those were enhanced remasters of the first Xenoblade and the Xenoblade Chronicles X spin-off, but if you discount those, it was only a five year wait between Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, meaning the studio’s next new game could arrive as early as 2027. 12. Yoshi While Yoshi as a character is a popular mainstay of the wider Mario franchise, he’s always had plenty of his own standalone games – which are often aimed at a younger audience. Nowadays, the series seems to be the responsibility of Good-Feel, which made Yoshi’s Woolly World for Wii U and 3DS and Yoshi’s Crafted World for Switch. Both games were competent 2D platformers with spectacularly charming visuals, although in gameplay terms they were fairly basic. Perhaps the Switch 2 will be the opportunity for Yoshi to get a Donkey Kong Bananza style makeover or perhaps Good-Feel will simply trot out another cute-but-safe 2D platformer. Alternatively, we wouldn’t be opposed to a Princess Peach: Showtime! follow-up, given the original really didn’t live up to the premise and there’s plenty of room for improvement. 13. Kid Icarus Of all the 3DS games in need of an updated Switch 2 port, Kid Icarus: Uprising is the most obvious. The moment the console’s mouse controls were shown, many fans thought about how much better Kid Icarus: Uprising’s unique mix of rail shooter gameplay and third person action would be on Switch 2. That’s not to say the original was a poor game, far from it. But ground combat always felt clumsy and the game forcing you to use the stylus for everything meant a lot of hand cramps during long play sessions. Nintendo obviously realised this and bundled a stand with the game, as an admission that the controls were not ideal. Kid Icarus: Uprising director Masahiro Sakurai is currently busy with his Kirby Air Ride sequel, which is an odd pick for his first Switch 2 game, when the original is little known and out the same year as a far bigger racing game: Mario Kart World. Nintendo doesn’t necessarily need to enlist Sakurai for a Kid Icarus: Uprising remaster, although they’d probably want him at least overseeing it, considering his influence is all over the original. Hopefully, they find some time to do it before Sakurai is sent back into the Super Smash Bros. mines. 14. Super Smash Bros. Speaking of Super Smash Bros., we already wrote a feature on the future of the series and what its Switch 2 entry could look like, so we won’t spend too long on this section. A sequel will certainly happen someday, but will it be an entirely new game or an updated re-release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? The latter might be the more likely option thanks to the existence of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games. Fans wouldn’t hesitate to pay an upgrade fee for a Switch 2 port of Ultimate if it came with a handful of new characters and that would be quicker to do than a full sequel. Again, Sakurai’s currently busy with Kirby Air Riders but once that’s out of the way, he’ll likely be dragged back to work on the series. 15. Nintendogs There’s no evidence of Nintendo having any interest in reviving Nintendogs, outside of a patent that some think is hinting at a successor for mobile phones, but this is another example of an idea that’s too good to not try, thanks to the Switch 2’s mouse controls. As a pet simulator, a major part of the appeal is interacting with your virtual dog. Using a control stick and buttons is a bit impersonal, which is why Nintendogs made you use the DS’s stylus for petting and playing with your pet. It’s a little thing but it makes all the difference, and that interactivity can be replicated with mouse controls. Nintendo has a team dedicated to more casual games, such as Ring Fit Adventure, Big Brain Academy, and Nintendo Switch Sports. They’re probably the best fit for a Nintendogs revival and it could find new success on Switch 2 if it was pitched as a free-to-play experience. 16. Another Code/Hotel Dusk Had Nintendo not randomly commissioned Arc System Works to remake the two Another Code games last year, we wouldn’t have bothered including it or its sibling series Hotel Dusk in this list. More Trending We’re still not sure what Nintendo’s motivation was beyond capitalising on a niche audience’s nostalgia, but with Another Code fresh in peoples’ minds, perhaps there’s a chance for it to continue on Switch 2. The console’s mouse controls are perfectly suited to its brand of point ‘n’ click adventure gameplay and if the Another Code remakes did decently, there might be hope for Hotel Dusk as well. Both series were developed at Cing and while the studio’s long since shut down, many staff moved to Arc System Works and made a Hotel Dusk successor called Chase: Cold Case Investigations – Distant Memories. They clearly have a lot of affection for Hotel Dusk (main character Kyle Hyde even had cameos in the Another Code remakes) so they’d likely jump at the chance to return to the series if Nintendo asked. Would you play a new Another Code or Hotel Dusk? (Nintendo) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy