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Entertainment giant Paramount Skydance has kicked off a hostile takeover attempt for Warner Bros Discovery just days after the latter accepted a deal from Netflix. Read more View the full article

Longtime Tekken director and series producer Katsuhiro Harada has revealed he will leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025. Harada, whose credits include not only Tekken but the SoulCalibur series, Pokkén Tournament, and more, said he wanted to reach the Tekken series' 30th Anniversary, which happened last December, as a major career milestone and is ready to move on. He says he will leave Bandai Namco at the end of the year, but has been asked by the publisher to appear at the Tekken World Tour Finals at the end of January, and he will be attending as a guest. Alongside this news, Harada has released "TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada's Final Mix" on SoundCloud, as he has always wanted to perform as a DJ at a tournament but never had the chance. "So instead, I will be releasing – for the first and last time – a 60-minute Tekken DJ-style nonstop mix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, together with this announcement," Harada writes in his announcement post on X. "Listening to it brings back many memories. Thank you again, sincerely, for all these years." In Harada's announcement post, he talks about his love of arcade fighting games, his journey with Tekken and game development, and how he sought the advice of longtime mentor Ken Kutaragi, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, commonly referred to as "The Father of PlayStation," and "received invaluable encouragement and guidance," noting that "his words quietely supported me in making this decision." Alongside news of Harada's departure, the Tekken X account released a statement that says the following regarding Harada's upcoming leave: "Katsuhiro Harada, who has long led numerous projects including the Tekken series, will be leaving Bandai Namco. This comes as the Tekken series finishes celebrating its 30th anniversary, a milestone he deeply contributed to as executive director and executive producer on the franchise. Harada-san is making an appearance and meeting with the Tekken community at the 'Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals' Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) and Top 20 finals, held in Malmo, Sweden, on January 31 and February 1, 2026." The statement also includes words regarding the future of the Tekken series, and they read as follows: "To our fans, rest assured that we are fully committed to future development and content plans for Tekken 8. We will continue to take community feedback on the game and its content to heart to ensure that we uphold the vision and spirit built by Harada-san, dedicating our utmost efforts to ensure the legacy of the Tekken series continues as a fighting game franchise beloved worldwide. We express our deepest gratitude for Harada-san for providing us with vision and continued success over the years." On that note, Harada mentions in his announcement that, "Over the past four to five years, I've gradually handed over all of my responsibilities, as well as the stories and worldbuilding I oversaw, to the team, bringing me to the present day," so it sounds like the Tekken series is in good hands. Harada's Tekken journey goes all the way back to the beginning, where he was a voice actor for Marshall Law, Yoshimitsu, and Kunimitsu in the first Tekken. In Tekken 2, he voiced Marshall Law and Yoshimitsu once more. With Tekken 3 in 1997, not only did Harada voice Yoshimitsu and newcomer Forest Law, but he also directed the game. Since then, he's been a creative lead on the series through 2024's Tekken 8. You can read Game Informer's Tekken 8 review here. Do you have any favorite Harada memories? Drop them in the comments below! View the full article

The Asia and MENA game markets are on track to generate $88.97 billion in games revenue for 2025, better than was previously forecast. Read more View the full article

The former head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has said that Japanese game developers are unable to keep pace with their Chinese counterparts. Read more View the full article

Industry veterans from PlayStation London Studio, Disney Interactive, and Square Enix have formed a new studio. Read more View the full article

Tekken veteran Katsuhiro Harada has announced his departure from Bandai Namco after three decades. Read more View the full article

Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC Publisher: Ysbryd Games Developer: Necrosoft Games Release: November 19, 2025 Rating: Teen School life can encompass a lot. There are classes to attend, extracurriculars to get involved in, and plenty of fellow students to meet and grow alongside. And if you're attending Demonschool, there's a fair bit of infernal conflict and apocalyptic terror to overcome, alongside your finals. Demonschool's Hemsk Island is a lively college town filled with things to do: fishing, cooking, reading tea leaves, tossing coins in fountains, fixing up arcade cabinets, and dispensing of demons with tactical precision, all set amid a Y2K-fueled analog community. Demonschool feels like a lockbox of clever ideas. Though the breadth of side activities sometimes belies depth, it's the core tactical combat, audio-visual flair, and found-family story that helps Demonschool clear the course with great marks. The semester of Demonschool starts with Faye, a new student descended from a lineage of demon hunters, on the ferry to Hemsk Island for university. There's a prophecy saying the world will end several weeks from now, and she's on the hunt to solve it. Along the way, you gather up a party around Faye, get weekly assignments, and learn more about why demons are popping up with increasing frequency. The cast of characters gathered throughout the course of Demonschool is an eclectic, fun bunch. There were some clear favorites for me over others, either depending on their particular skillset or just general vibes, but each one stands out on their own. Aina, the cool, tough daughter of a crime lord is probably my favorite, but others such as the beastmaster-like Mercy and Henk, who literally drops desks and other items on the field, all offered unique options for my party, as well as fun social bonds to build up between major quests. It's a shame, then, that it takes a bit for Demonschool to get to that point. The first few in-game weeks of Demonschool are slow, as Faye and friends take time to start growing their numbers. This, combined with a generally high frequency of battles, means you're tackling fights and hanging out with the same set of companions for a spell. When it gets going, though, the tactical combat sings. In description, Demonschool's tactics sound complex; you have a planning phase, in which you spend increasing amounts of fixed points to move and attack with your chosen party. Movement happens in straight lines and diagonals, so combat often tasks you with threading moves together, hopping from one foe to the next. All the while, you're trying to kill enough demons to fill up the meter and reach the opposite side of the battlefield, to seal them all away and end the fight, before any demons reach your side of the field and crack the barrier, spilling out into the real world. Add in some specific rules around moving and attacking, as well as little adjustments like side-stepping, and Demonschool can be a lot to wrap your mind around, tactically. Necrosoft's taken a very direct approach – numbers are low, as are health bars, and it makes combat feel punchy, fast, and sometimes dangerous. That's why the planning phase works so well, though. Nailing a turn where you sweep through a horde of demons, pulling off big manga-panel cut-in combo attacks and wiping away the field before sealing it, is an electric reward for solving the tactical puzzle. The tools available ensure you have interesting options for solving too, and I enjoyed when Demonschool forced me to stop using my go-to A-team and experiment with more unconventional characters' toolkits. The focus on movement and effects, rather than only increasing base damage numbers, means characters do cooler things: augment their attacks to fire in different patterns, add poison or burn to their strikes, or let healers reduce the damage output of enemies with their restorative measures. Though the information is not always easy to uncover, managing your party's skills and abilities lets you craft a crew that can do some really wild stuff. It all culminates in the boss fights, which are the crowning highlight of Demonschool. Making bosses for tactics games can be tricky, but Necrosoft makes every major encounter memorable and exciting. Bosses add new dangers, push you in ways normal fights don't, and can even warp the battlefield and game mechanics in ways you'll have to adapt to on the fly. A particular fight on a circular plane lived rent-free in my head for days after clearing it. Some fights were a bit perfunctory, but honestly, even the ones that took me just a minute or two to clear felt like I was exhibiting mastery over a system that once intimidated me. Like acing a final, Demonschool lends a notion of accomplishment. The less-engaging side is the extracurricular activities, where Faye can hang out with characters or take part in minigames. Fishing, karaoke, cooking, and more add a lot of things to do, and some help with boosting social rapport for the ever-growing cast of characters. But they become repetitive too fast, especially if you're trying to max out bonds with specific companions. I slowly lost interest in them over the course of the 30 or so hours I spent working my way through Demonschool. There are some side quests, as well, but they usually encompass talking to a few people, fast-traveling between zones, and a battle or two. Side quests and activities do, at least, encourage you to wander the island and take in the sights and sounds. Demonschool has a wonderful blend of sprite-work and low-poly, PS1-era graphics that frame its world perfectly, alongside an absolutely masterful soundtrack. Every battle, the music drops to a subdued beat for the planning phase and then naturally slides up to an intense tune when you hit "go" on the fight, then back down for the next round. The turn-of-the-21st-century vibes are immaculate in Demonschool; it looks and sounds unlike anything else you'll play this year, in the best way. Demonschool is infectious. The tactical clicks as I fired off a masterful turn that wipes out swathes of demonic creatures kept me coming back, day after day, week after week. Each new character pushed me in new directions, opening new horizons, while also luring me into new bonds and relationships. Though it takes a while to get going and falls a bit short in its side activities, Demonschool still manages to be a haunted PS1 disc of tactical joy. Score: 8 About Game Informer's review system View the full article

It's the first Friday of December, which means we're one step closer to the Winter holidays – whatever and however you celebrate, something tells me video games are involved, along with some relaxation, good food, great friends and family, and maybe some more video games. As the year begins to wind down, our backlogs are looking a bit more manageable and I wager I'll look at mine, download multiple games, and touch roughly none of them this month. Anyway, it's been a busy week here at Game Informer! We wrapped up the behind-the-scenes work on our special oversized end-of-year issue, and if you aren't already a subscriber, head here to ensure that issues hit your mailbox. We also published reviews for games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Octopath Traveler 0, and covered the week's biggest news, too! Before we get into the staff's weekend recommendations, here's a recap of the biggest stories of the week: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review – Worth The WaitMarvel Cosmic Invasion Review – Making The Dream WorkOctopath Traveler 0 Review – Going From Zero To HeroSteam And The Epic Games Store Refuse To Sell Indie Horror Game Horses – Here's WhyParamount Announces A New Sonic Universe Film For Holiday 2028Helldivers Movie Lands Fast And Furious Director Justin LinSony Set To Publish Four-Player Co-Op Shooter Developed By JJ Abrams' Bad Robot GamesThe Games You Should Check Out This Weekend Routine Wesley LeBlanc Though I'm familiar with Routine's long journey to launch, I wasn't too keyed into what the actual game was at all before hopping into it this week to review it for Game Informer. I'll have a review up next week for it – I believe I'm nearing the end – but I just want to take this article to gush a bit about it. It is loosely a survival-horror game that really places you into the shoes of the engineer you control, who must discover what disturbing and mysterious event has taken place on a now-defunct lunar station. Unlike other games in this genre, you're not really there to fight back against whatever lurks in this space station's empty hallways – and there are certainly things lurking – but instead, you're there to tinker with computers, open doors, read documents and emails, and use your C.A.T. handheld device to learn more about the station and maybe, just maybe, escape, too. I can't overstate how tactile Routine is – you walk around and tinker with computers, your C.A.T. device, documents, buttons, and more. And everything in Routine is obscured in mystery and bathed in a beautiful 1970s visual style reminiscent of Alien, with the crunchiest film grain you've ever seen. If you like being afraid and alone in space, and if you also like tinkering with an intensely detailed environment around you to solve puzzles and progress deeper into the location, Routine is a game you should check out this weekend. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Kyle Hilliard Eighteen years after the release of Metroid Prime 3 and eight years after the announcement of Metroid Prime 4, the game is finally here. The wait has been long, but the resulting experience is worthwhile. It does not radically reimagine what has, frankly, worked about series since the original Metroid Prime, but it delivers what I wanted from a Metroid Prime experience. I actually ended up playing it through twice back-to-back – an extreme rarity for me. Make sure to back up your save at the point of no return if you haven’t achieved 100% (and you want to), and make sure to grab as many green crystals as possible over the course of the game, so you don’t have to spend time building your bank right at the end. But otherwise, you are in for a classic search-action experience absolutely dripping with alien atmosphere. Read my review here. Marvel Cosmic Invaison Marcus Stewart It’s Friday, which means you may be calling up the homies to plan some weekend gaming. If your friend group adores comics and the act of relentlessly punching things in the face, Marvel Comic Invasion is a strong recommendation. The four-player retro-inspired beat ‘em up spices up the genre with fun tag-team gameplay, in which each player controls two heroes they swap between à la Marvel vs. Capcom. With deeper combat mechanics than most brawlers, beautiful sprite work, and a great soundtrack, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a great excuse to catch up with friends while blasting through the video game equivalent of a good Saturday morning superhero cartoon. Getting friends together on the couch for a local co-op session rocks, but if that's not an option, the excellent drop-in/drop-out online play is a great alternative. Plus, even if the person hosting the online lobby needs to exit the game, the session continues uninterrupted. This is perfect for dealing with any unexpected adult responsibilities that arise, like teaching your dog how to read or taking your child to the vet. For a better idea of what Marvel Cosmic Invasion has to offer, you can read my review of the game here. Kirby Air Riders Charles Harte Kirby Air Riders is a fascinating game that more closely follows the footsteps of Super Smash Bros than Mario Kart. Director Masahiro Sakurai's distinctive style, complete with hundreds of achievements, bright animations, and familiar menu designs will bombard players from the game's opening moments. Once you actually get in a race, you'll find that the game is far more complex than at first glance. Its two button control scheme masks the extremely varied riders and machines, each with nine stats that add together when you pick one of each. It also has a wealth of modes, from the standard Air Ride to the party-friendly City Trial to the solo Road Trip. It's not a game for everyone, as it's a bit of an acquired taste, but coffee is an acquired taste and I drink it every day; if the game sounds appealing to you, you're going to love it. Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved Charles Harte Hayes Madsen published a piece on Inverse the other day recommending a game I had never heard of, but as soon as he used the words "Ace Attorney," something dormant in my brain activated and I purchased it without a second thought. Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved is a game very much inspired by my favorite capcom series, with DS-era pixel art and a mystery-driven narrative, but it's very much its own concept. As a college student on a study trip in a foreign country, your classmate befriends a mysterious woman on the 3-day train ride home, only for that woman to disappear hours later. Nobody claims to know who she is, so the two of you investigate. What follows isn't as gripping as my favorite Ace Attorney cases, especially since the stakes are relatively low at the outset, but like any good mystery, it grows over time. By the end of my 4-hour playthrough, it was a train ride I was glad to have embarked upon, and certainly scratched the investigative itch I'd been hoping for. It's currently available on Steam and Switch. Guild Wars Reforged Eric Van Allen I never really got the chance to play MMOs when I was younger. Sure, I spent a lot of time on the PC, but it's easier to convince your parents to buy a single Battle Chest or multi-disc box than a regular subscription. So when ArenaNet suddenly dropped an updated version of the original Guild Wars via Reforged, I was curious to see what I'd missed. In the span of an hour or two, I undertook menial tasks of heroism that would be better described as mutual charity. I fought worms and crawlers for eggs. I escorted NPCs through dangerous areas. In the starting town, I partied up with someone named "Zerosugar Bajablast" to complete a quest. There is a quaint simplicity to this era of MMORPG, where a combination of scale and open skies communicates grandeur where tangible objects cannot. Interfaces seem intentionally minute and finicky. Compared to my hours upon hours in Final Fantasy XIV's Eorzea, it is quaint. But quaint's what I want right now, to be honest; a world that's just a little sandbox of adventures to explore with friends. And seeing so many people logging on and talking about how excited they are to start anew, with all these new players flooding in, is heartwarming. The years may have passed on by, but Guild Wars has retained the charm and warmth, thanks in large part to its community, including Zerosugar Bajablast. Octopath Traveler 0 Matt Miller Don't be put off by the fact that Octopath Traveler 0 is a rebuild of content that originally appeared as part of a gacha-oriented mobile title. The developers leveraged the vast amount of content created for that mobile iteration, but reworked the entire experience to be a premium JRPG game that offers many dozens of hours of turn-based battles, gorgeous retro visuals, and incredible flexibility to customize and build both a party of characters and a town that acts as home base. This is a rewarding and fun experience that advances many of the ideas that were already strong in prior Octopath games. If you've been hungry for a throwback to the days of Chrono Trigger or the early Final Fantasy games, this should be on your radar. MotionRec Alex Van Aken MotionRec is a 1-bit puzzle platformer that has quickly become one of my favorite 2025 games. Playing as a small, adorable robot, you solve puzzles by pressing a record button, capturing a string of motions, and then playing back your movements from a different point of origin, often in succession to bypass spikes, lasers, or particularly long gaps. MotionRec is full of tricky puzzles and ample light-bulb moments as you collect a series of musical notes throughout any one level. It's an amazing little game. Don't miss it! Pokémon Legends: Z-A – New Side Missions Wesley LeBlanc You already know Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a fun game (and if you don't, read Brian Shea's review here), and I'm not here to repeat that sentiment. However, I do want to take this article to highlight some of the things I recommend hopping back into the game to complete if you haven't touched it in a minute. If you connect to the internet to receive Mystery Gifts, you can claim a Diancite Stone, a Mewtwonite X stone, and a Mewtwonite Y stone. Once you've claimed those two Mystery Gifts (you receive the Mewtwo stones at the same time), two new side missions will be added to Lumiose: Shine Bright Like A Gemstone and Project M. Complete the former to encounter Diancie, and complete the latter to encounter Mewtwo, allowing you to add both of these legendary Pokémon to your party. And with the stones you received from Mystery Gift, you can Mega Evolve both of them! Elsewhere in the game, if you haven't hopped into the online ranked mode battling yet, you should! You don't even have to be good – just play 5 to 10 rounds until you reach Rank S, and by that point, you will have received the Greninjite, Delphoxite, and Chesnaughtite stones as rewards for ranking up. These allow you to Mega Evolve Greninja, Delphox, and Chesnaught, respectively. There's no word on whether these rank rewards will remain after the current Season 3 of ranked battling, so I recommend hopping in asap to win these stones. View the full article

Winter's here, the snow is falling, and the last big games of 2025 are debuting. It's a packed week on The Game Informer Show, as Kyle Hilliard discusses his review of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Marcus Stewart dives into the super-sprites of Marvel Cosmic Invasion. After the break, Charles Harte joins the dynamic duo to discuss more Kirby Air Riders, as well as spotlight a cool new indie mystery called Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved. Don't turn the dial on 2025 yet, as the year's clearly got a few more heaters left. The Game Informer Show is a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday for chats about your favorite titles – past and present – alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry. Watch the video version here: Listen to "Metroid Prime 4 and Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review" on Spreaker.Follow our hosts on social media:Marcus Stewart (@marcusstewart7)Kyle Hilliard (@kylehilliard)Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)Jump to a specific discussion using these timestamps:00:00 - Intro7:08 - Metroid Prime 4 Beyond32:58 - Marvel Cosmic Invasion52:08 - Kirby Air Riders1:11:13 - Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved View the full article

Get Die Young for free via IndieGala! Die Young is a first-person open-world survival game with astonishing landscapes and lots of suspense. View the full article

We first learned about 2XKO as Project L back in 2019. The title was borne out of Riot Games' acquisition of Radiant Entertainment, which was in the process of developing Rising Thunder, a technically proficient yet approachable fighting game, back in 2016. We've known about 2XKO for years now, and the game has been playable as an early access release on PC since October, but we now have an idea of when we'll play it on consoles. Riot Games has announced that 2XKO is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in January 2026. Season 1, which introduces a new champion and extended progression, will coincide with that launch across all platforms. During this time, players will gain access to unlocked content, including champions, skins, mastery rewards, and more, regardless of which platform you play on, with a catch-up mechanic to help console players earn content from the PC early access period. Season 1 brings with it Frame Perfect, a new competitive-themed skin that will see Riot donating a portion of the proceeds to directly support tournament organizers and help fund prize pools and production costs. Additionally, Riot unveiled the 2026 Competitive Series, which is a program built in direct partnership with tournament organizers across the globe. The 2026 Competitive Series will include 20 official Riot events, including 5 Majors. The first event kicks off on January 29. It all begins when 2XKO arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in January alongside the start of Season 1 across all platforms. View the full article

Warner Bros. Discovery has been shopping around for a new owner the past few months, and this morning, they entered negotiations with a new winner; Netflix won over Paramount and Comcast. The deal, which combines cash and stock, will see the Stranger Things streaming service acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 million, while Discovery Global will spin off into a separate, independent company before the acquisition. Warner Bros. owns many major media brands, such as HBO and DC, as well as Warner Bros. Games, a publisher that owns several major game developers. While this part of the deal was previously unclear, Game Developer has confirmed that this division will be acquired by Netflix as well. The inclusion of Warner Bros. Games is ignored in the initial press release (the only games mentioned are Squid Game and Game of Thrones), and Game Developer reports that a conference call held this morning only briefly suggested the game publisher would be a part of the deal. Game Developer's Chris Kerr writes, "Warner Bros. Games was briefly referenced during a conference call held this morning, when the Mortal Kombat logo was shown on a 'Business Overview' slide to highlight Warner Bros.' wider game and consumer product exploits—but that blink-and-you'll-miss-it-moment was largely it." In a later call with a representative of Warner Bros. Discovery, however, Game Developer confirmed that the Warner Bros. Games division would be a part of Netflix's deal. Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, and the Batman: Arkham series are just a few of the game series Netflix will own. Warner Bros. Games owns several major gaming studios. There's Netherrealm Studios (known for Mortal Kombat), Avalanche (developers of Hogwarts Legacy), Rocksteady (known for the Arkham series and the recent Suicide Squad game), and TT Games (known for the licensed Lego games, like Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman). There are also several WB Games studios, most notably WB Montréal, which developed Batman: Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights. Netflix has attempted to break into the gaming scene in recent years, offering a wide range of mobile games as a part of a Netflix subscription, including apps like Cut the Rope, indie hits like Dead Cells, and even Rockstar ports like Red Dead Redemption and GTA: San Andreas. Netflix has also acquired several game studios, like Oxenfree developer Night School Studios. Netflix is currently collaborating with Life is Strange creators Don't Nod on a mysterious game adaptation of a "major IP". Still, it's unclear how far these efforts have gotten them, and adding major console developers to its portfolio could make a huge difference. It will likely be a while before we see the results of this merger; the transaction process is lengthy and is estimated to last 12-18 months. This also assumes antitrust regulatory bodies don't get involved to slow the process, and with a deal of this size, it would not be surprising. The last deal we covered on this scale was Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which fought a major legal battle but ultimately succeeded. The jury is still out, however, on whether that merger was good for consumers or employees, as Microsoft has since laid off thousands of employees, closed several major studios, and raised the prices of its consoles and subscription service. View the full article

Netflix is buying entertainment giant Warner Bros in a deal valued at around $82.7 billion. Read more View the full article

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, whose credits span TV and films like Memoirs of a Geisha, The Man in the High Castle, and 1995’s Mortal Kombat, died yesterday due to complications from a stroke, Deadline reports. He was 75. Tagawa’s acting career spanned over four decades, with film credits including The Last Emperor, Rising Sun, Memoirs of a Geisha, Planet of the Apes (2000), Balls of Fury, 47 Ronin, and Kubo and the Two Strings. In television, he appeared in series including MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Wars: Rebels, and most notably as Nobusuke Tagomi in Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle. Tagawa’s final role was as Master Eiji in the 2023 Netflix animated series Blue Samurai. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat (1995) For video game fans, Tagawa was best known for portraying Shang Tsung in the first live-action Mortal Kombat film. His performance as the villainous sorcerer, which featured now-famous lines like "Your soul is mine!" and "It has begun!", became so beloved that he would reprise the role in various adaptations, such as the 2013 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Tagawa also appeared as Shang Tsung, voice and likeness, in Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath story expansion and the mobile action RPG Mortal Kombat: Onslaught. Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon shared his condolences on X, writing We lost a legend today. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film and sadly passed away at age 75. We had the privilege of his portrayal on the first MK film but also as an amazing voice actor in the Mortal Kombat 11 game. Cary was one of a kind. He combined danger, swagger and athleticism to his roles and will always be remembered as the man who first brought Shang Tsung to life on film. Rest in Peace. Your soul is eternal. While closely tied to Shang Tsung, Tagawa had also portrayed another iconic fighting game villain. He played Heihachi Mishima in the live-action movie Tekken, which was released in the US in 2011, and its 2014 sequel, Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge. Tagawa had voice credits in other video games: World of Warcraft: Legion, Batman: Rise of Sun Tzu, and Soldier Boyz. As reported by Deadline, Tagawa's family confirmed he died Thursday, surrounded by his children. View the full article

The Russian government has stopped its citizens from being able to access games platform Roblox, in part due to it allegedly featuring "LGBT propaganda." Read more View the full article

Tech giant Meta is reportedly looking to make cuts in its Reality Labs metaverse division, the home of the Quest VR headest and the Horizon Worlds platform. Read more View the full article

Shedworks co-founder Gregorios Kythreotis has founded a new studio called Eteo. Read more View the full article

Japanese publishing giant Sega has said that it will be employing AI in game development, but says it will be cautious in how it is used. Read more View the full article

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced a partnership with Bad Robot Games to support its first internally developed game. Read more View the full article

Cellar Door Games, the creators of Rogue Legacy 1 and 2, have revealed a substantially different new game called Neath during today’s PC Gaming Show. It’s a dark roguelike tactical RPG coming next year. Neath is set in a dying world that has an irradiated, inverted tower looming above it. Players lead a band of fragile warriors up the tower, which holds Taboos, a series of ever-changing edicts from a god that regularly alter the laws of reality. Inspired by games like Into the Breach and tabletop games like Mansions of Madness, the grid-based game features what a press release calls a “fluid turn-based system where the turn order is always shifting.” In other words, Neath allows players to control the actions of allies and enemies alike. An “engagement-locking” system grips allied units in fear when targeted by foes. It’s up to the player to disrupt enemies. The game’s press release also states that players can “Make trapped chests fizzle, barter with the gods, and reshape destiny with the power of Fate's Die. Encounter special events inspired by classic 90's dungeon-crawlers that reshapes your party during every run. But beware the consequences when playing games with providence.” Throughout each run through the tower, players will build their party and learn new abilities, and find powerful relics. Players can discover team synergies to help turn the tide of battles. Outside of tower runs, players will rebuild the small town of Shale into a rich settlement that, in turn, will help them better prepare for future runs. Neath will launch in 2026 for PC via Steam. Until then, you can read our reviews of Rogue Legacy and Rogue Legacy 2. View the full article

Splitgate 2 had a rough launch this June. Players were unsatisfied with the sequel’s changes, and it suffered a big PR blow from 1047 Games co-founder Ian Prolux’s controversial stage presentation during Summer Game Fest. After unlaunching Splitgate 2 and returning it to beta in July for a substantial rework, the game has reemerged with a new name: Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. Launching on December 17, the free-to-play Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is described as “a revamped online arena FPS from 1047 Games that goes back to its community focused roots,” in a press release. This new version of the portal-jumping competitive shooter ditches the factions and abilities of the original Splitgate 2. It also sports a completely overhauled progression system to create an arena-style experience that hews much closer to the original Splitgate. “Splitgate has always been a love letter to the arena shooters we grew up playing,” said 1047 Games design director Josh Watson in a press release. “We’ve been hard at work rebuilding the game from the ground up, taking the best of Splitgate 1 and Splitgate 2, removing what didn’t work, and refining what did.” Arena Reloaded also introduces five new maps, while six existing maps have been fully reworked. It also features three new primary weapons and a new power weapon, the Railgun. The game also boasts new Arena modes, along with Classic Arena, playlist selection, and an even-starts mode without customizable weapon loadouts. 1047 also promises a simplified battle pass, improved cosmetics, and reduced store prices. Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. View the full article

Fullbright, the studio behind Gone Home and Tacoma, has revealed Springs, Eternal, a new first-person exploration game set within a mysterious hot spring. Revealed during the PC Gaming Show today, it's currently in development for PC and scheduled to launch on Steam sometime in 2026. Notably, Fullbright is now "primarily the solo developer label of founder Steve Gaynor," who previously stepped down from the development of a once-Fullbright game, Open Roads, following allegations of employee misconduct and creating a toxic workplace. After stepping down as the creative lead of Open Roads, the developers behind the road trip adventure game formed the Open Roads Team to release it. It's been over a year since Open Road's launch in 2024, sans Gaynor, and now Gaynor is preparing to launch Springs, Eternal next year. Check out the Springs, Eternal reveal trailer below: "In Springs, Eternal, players explore the dark, winding, wooded paths of Stillwater Springs, a secluded, dreamlike, and eerie retreat nestled deep amongst the fog-shrouded pines – an otherworldly location that is equally inviting as it is unsettling," a press release reads. "As they tread and illuminate the trail, flashlight in hand, players will begin to piece together the humanistic and deeply heartfelt memory of the romantic relationship that brought them here, and perhaps discover where it will lead them next." During Springs, Eternal, players will encounter a cast of other lost souls, each with their own reasons for being at Stillwater. The press release says that, "In a first for Fullbright, engaging in branching dialogue with this cast of characters reveals who they are, how their stories relate to your own, and what other secrets the supernaturally-tinged Stillwater might be hiding." Springs, Eternal is set to launch on PC via Steam sometime in 2026. In the meantime, be sure to read our review of Open Roads, and then read our thoughts on Fullbright's last release, Tacoma. After that, read Game Informer's Gone Home review. View the full article

IllFonic released a new trailer for its asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, Halloween, during today's PC Gaming Show, and it showcases its first map, Haddonfield Heights. Of course, Haddonfield is the fictional Illinois town where killer Michael Myers attempts to kill Laurie Strode in the original 1978 Halloween film, so it's no surprise a map like this is in the game. Developer-publisher IllFonic and co-publisher Gun Interactive describe Haddonfield Heights as a map nestled beneath the iconic Haddonfield water tower that brings players deep into the heart of the town, "introducing a warm, tight-knit neighborhood that hides terror behind every picket fence and perfectly manicured lawn." It features a cluster of charming homes, plenty of front yards and winding side streets to hide in, and a neighborhood full of nooks and crannies necessary to run from (or stop) Michael. Check it out in the Haddonfield Heights trailer for yourself below: As a civilian, you will have to scavenge for supplies, guide residents to safety, and locate a phone to call the police before the time runs out in Haddonfield Heights. And if you're playing as Michael, you can expect to prowl the shadows and use abilities like Shape Jump to traverse through the neighborhood unseen and strike without warning. "This neighborhood allowed us to reimage the tension of Haddonfield in a way that feels both intimate and terrifying," IllFonic design director Jordan Mathewson writes in a press release. "We wanted players to feel the comfort of the neighborhood they recognize from the film right before we turn it into a panic. Every hedge, hallway, and backyard was built to heighten suspense and reward clever play, whether you're hunting or being hunted." Halloween launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. In the meantime, read Game Informer's exclusive interview with IllFonic about the game. Are you excited for Halloween? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Normally, releasing a game is a cause for celebration for a developer, but two months after launch, Wreckreation studio Three Fields Entertainment is facing some hard times. According to a post from its CEO on LinkedIn (which we learned about thanks to GamesIndustry.biz), the entire studio's staff is currently "on notice for redundancy." "Today I am having to share one of the hardest messages of my career," CEO Fiona Sperry's post reads. "After twelve years of building and nurturing Three Fields Entertainment, I am forced into the situation of today placing our entire team on notice of redundancy." The post goes on to detail the company's financial status. Despite the game being published by THQ Nordic, Sperry claims the studio has had to self-fund "most of this year and all of the post launch content," and after doing so for months, leadership "simply cannot sustain the studio in its current form." As a result, the post is both a public announcement of the redundancies and a call to potential business partners that can help fund the studio as it finds its footing. "My hope is that by showing this work publicly, someone out there might also see that potential and perhaps an opportunity could still emerge," Sperry's post continues. "But even if that hope does not materialise, we want this to stand as a testament to our vision and to the strength, passion, and skill of our tiny team. I truly believe in the potential of this game and in the brilliance of the people who built it." Three Fields Entertainment was founded in 2014 by former developers of the Burnout series. Since then, it's developed games like Dangerous Golf, Lethal VR, Danger Zone 1 and 2, and Dangerous Driving. Its latest game, Wreckreation, launched on October 28 to a relatively lukewarm response, sitting at a 62 on Metacritic. If you want to check it out for yourself, you can pick it up on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC. View the full article

Platform: PC Publisher: Chaos Manufacturing Developer: Chaos Manufacturing Developer Chaos Manufacturing curiously describes its debut action RPG, SOL Shogunate, as a “samurai space opera.” When I ask CEO Guy Costantini and game director Leszek Szczepanski what inspired this theme, they cite a plethora of intriguing influences. The pair rattles off video games such as Metal Gear Rising and Final Fantasy XVI, films like Dune and Man in the High Castle, and even anime like Attack on Titan and Knights of Sidonia. But the biggest inspiration for this upcoming sci-fi adventure, surprisingly, is music. Revealed during today's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, SOL Shogunate takes place in a future where humanity colonized the solar system and has culturally adopted the Japanese feudal system and culture. Like the best samurai tales, the game is a revenge quest centering on Yuzuki, the once-heir to a powerful Tennoji samurai clan that was wiped out by the rival Karasuma Clan. Yuzuki will enact her vengeance as an outlaw ronin across a sprawling metropolis on Earth’s moon; players will battle within its glass-domed cities, each inspired by different eras of Japanese history, as well as on the lunar surface itself. “It's what we would call a Moon that has been essentially developed,” Costantini explains. “It's the gateway to the solar system. It's been developed for around 150 years. So we have these large, rotating cities called lunar glasses that are built inside of a lunar crater. And essentially, these cities allow people to have simulated gravity, allow them to have biomes that are fully explorable.” These domed cities feature architecture and other elements inspired by eras. For example, one city called Shin Edo is inspired by Feudal-era Japan, while another city, Tenkyo, draws inspiration from the late Showa-era of the 1980s. Of course, each city is heavily futuristic Szczepanski and Costantini are industry veterans; Szczepanski has worked for Konami on series like Metal Gear and Castlevania, as well as with Guerrilla Games on the Horizon franchise; Costantini has tenure at Riot Games, CD Projekt Red, and Skydance. Both are massive action game fans from opposite spectrums of the genre, with Szczepanski professing his love of Platinum Games, the studio behind Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising, while Costantini is an enthusiast of Elden Ring and Dark Souls masterminds From Software. Despite being the yin to the other’s yang, SOL Shogunate is a visceral yet rhythmic, stylish action experience. “‘Samurai Space Opera’ is both figurative, because this is an epic adventure in space, but also is very literal,” Szczepanski says. “This is a musical adventure in space.” While not actually a rhythm game, Szczepanski says music is intimately woven into the experience; the soundtrack is being carefully curated – so far, we know Japanese rock act AliA is involved with the project – to provide a soundscape that emphasizes the thrills of gameplay to the highest degree so that every major battle or setpiece feels like an adrenaline-pumping, sensory-overloading music video. “In many ways, my process of trying to figure out what this game is supposed to be, it was spending embarrassing amounts of time just browsing through YouTube and Spotify and other places, and just jumping from band to band and band and seeing what makes me feel the strongest, and finding a way to convey these like plethora of different feelings of these songs managed to make me feel to the players was the driving force behind all this,” Szczepanski tells me. Combat is a slick and fast-paced affair, with players using a katana (one of several weapons the team will reveal later) to slice apart foes, while parrying incoming attacks. Strategy revolves around exploiting opponents’ elemental weaknesses players must discover during combat, a system dubbed the Vulnerability Matrix. Weapons can be equipped with various elemental properties, such as electricity, and other active abilities to create optimal loadouts against certain threats. Although you can’t be prepared for everything, SOL Shogunate will challenge players to study adversaries and learn how to adjust during the dynamic, ever-changing battles. Costantini also teases a gene-splicing mechanic for gaining and even combining powers, but is keeping details under wraps for now. Chaos Manufacturing is also considering the setting by always posing the question: how would a samurai fight on the Moon? For one, Yuzuki wears a bio-ceramic skin that acts as the sci-fi evolution of traditional samurai armor, allowing her to survive exposure to space and augmenting her natural talents to superhuman levels. This armor is not only practical, but it also represents another piece of world-building, as it’s a symbol of Yuzuki’s ascension to the top of her clan. Yuzuki is also equipped with Gravity Assist Gear, which, among other tools such as back thrusters, includes grappling hooks used to navigate areas, like pulling herself up platforms. This tool is also crucial to combat. Hooking onto enemies can either yank them towards Yuzuki or vice versa, and you can also use this tool to send enemies into environmental hazards. You can even weave electricity into your grapple attacks. “[There are] a lot of combinations that will effectively be a rabbit hole for people to explore so they can decide, 'hey, I'm this kind of space samurai,’” says Costantini. “‘I like this kind of weapon, I like this kind of augmentation, I like this way of moving around the battlefield.’” And the reason we did it that way is because we can't wait to see what players will surprise us with as they mix these genes together and discover some of the stuff we hid there.” SOL Shogunate is not an open-world game, but players can veer off the beaten path to complete optional tasks designed to add additional context to the world’s lore. But the adventure is very much centered on the primary story. Yuzuki can even mount a robotic horse, which draws from Szczepanski’s previous work on Sony’s Horizon series, but it’s unclear what else this mechanical steed can do. However, it helps reinforce this culture's romanticization of its past and how it cherry-picks the most desirable aspects to bring into the future, regardless of practicality. “If you were in power, and you were idolizing a specific time period, and you had access to all the technology possible, you would give yourself the fantasy that you and your peers want. And that is why we felt that the samurai would totally create a mechanical horse,” says Costantini. We won’t be playing SOL Shogunate until 2027 at the earliest, but it currently has no release window as the game is very early in development. Additionally, PC is the only confirmed platform for now. Still, Chaos Manufacturing has created a fascinating world and a mouth-watering gameplay premise. Hopefully, it lives up to its astronomical potential, and by channeling the studios’ love of the action genre, Japanese culture, and music, it has a real shot of making a big splash. “SOL Shogunate is very much a product of all our individual passions,” says Szczepanski. “We are all in love with Japan and its culture, and we wanted to kind of share some of that love with the world. And we also wanted to embed this game with other things we are deeply passionate about.” View the full article