I bring ill tidings from the land of folks who’re usually busy stressing about their heirs, sire. Crusader Kings 3‘s paid Coronations DLC has arrived alongside the Ascendant update, and I regret to inform you that the little expansion’s immediately been put in the stocks. The rotten tomatoes doth fly towards its bonce, and the resulting juice has turned its Steam reviews a mostly negative shade of crimson.
Sucker Punch director Nate Fox has revealed that the day Rockstar confirmed GTA 6 was delayed until 2026 was a “great” one for the Ghost of Yotei team.
Grand Theft Auto 6 was due out in fall 2025, but over the summer, Rockstar confirmed a delay to May 26, 2026, saying it needed “this extra time to deliver at the level of quality [players] expect and deserve.” And while the delay may have been disappointing news for players desperate to experience a new GTA game, Sucker Punch was delighted that Rockstar’s upcoming game would no longer clash with the October release of Ghost of Yotei.
In an interview with MinnMax (thanks, GR+), co-creative director Fox said the news resulted in a celebration, joking: “We’re all still hungover, multi-month hangover. That was a great day.”
Much like how the shadow-dropped announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date of September 4, 2025, was a less-than-celebratory day for the developers of around 10 other video games with existing marketing plans to launch around that same time, studios have also been shuffling release schedules to ensure their titles don’t bump up against GTA 6 and soak up the time, money, and interest of potential players.
As we summarized at the time, Hollow Knight: Silksong’s debut affected the release of games like Demonschool, Aeterna Lucis, Little Witch in the Woods, CloverPit, Megabonk, Baby Steps, Faeland, Starbirds, and Moros Protocol. Even Stomp and the Sword of Miracles, an indie game with no release date plans anywhere in sight, elected to delay its Kickstarter launch and demo release due to Silksong.
Couple that uncertainty with Hollow Knight: Silksong crashing Steam, the Nintendo eShop, and the digital stores on Xbox and PlayStation, we wonder how GTA 6 will impact the wider industry, too.
Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of Devolver Digital, told IGN: “There are AAA games and then there’s AAAA games and I’d argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game, it’s just bigger than anything else both in the scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands.”
Adam Lieb, CEO of marketing platform Gamesight, added: “I would say that GTA for the last year and a half has been a part of almost every conversation around launch dates I have heard.”
At least Ghost of Yotei’s release date seems certain: October 2, 2025. The follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, Yotei is set in the lands surrounding Mount Yotei, and takes place more than 300 years after the events of the first game.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
But why?
Nintendo has updated two trademarks relating to Magical Starsign on the DS and Tomodachi Life on the 3DS.
As highlighted by Mike Odyssey over on X, the trademarks are currently under examination as of 2nd September 2025 before full publication, which is normal. As for why they’ve been updated, well… that’s up for debate.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford has suggested that the game’s pre-order bundle, which contains a free Fortnite skin, could become a worthwhile investment — after a previous Borderlands skin fetched “over $2k when trading on eBay.”
Writing on social media, Pitchford highlighted the looter shooter’s Epic Games Store pre-order offer, which unlocks the Mad Moxxi skin in Fortnite. But players have been quick to point out that “trading” is against Fortnite’s Terms of Service, and liable to result in a ban.
“Is it true that the pre-order incentive Psycho Bandit skin in became one of the most valuable skins in Fortnite sometimes fetching over $2k when trading on eBay?” Pitchford wrote. “What are the odds this bundle becomes worth much more than the price of the game it is promoting?”
Firstly, it’s worth breaking down exactly what Pitchford is referring to here. The Psycho Bandit skin he mentions was originally released in 2019, as part of a similar Epic Game Store promotion with Borderlands 3. It was also briefly available via Fortnite’s item shop — before disappearing from sale for a lengthy period.
It’s during this time that the skin did become something of a coveted item among Fortnite players, though its perceived value dropped significantly when it returned returned on sale in April 2025, becoming widely-available once again after a gap of five years.
Fortnite skins deemed rare or unlikely to be sold again often attract player interest, though Fortnite itself of course does not offer any ability to sell or trade in-game items with other players. Instead, some players simply buy or sell accounts with rare items included — something which Epic Games is clear is against the company’s Terms of Service, and risks a lengthy (or permanent) ban.
All of which is worth bearing in mind when considering whether buying Borderlands 4 just for its attached Fortnite skin is really the best pitch for a money-making scheme. But hey, at least the game isn’t $80.
Borderlands 4 launches this Friday, September 12, for PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will then follow on October 3.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Microsoft have announced plans to roll out a policy which will mandate that staff return to working from the office at least three days per week, with a first phase of it set to come into force as of February 2026.
In a memo about the move shared by The Verge, Microsoft executive vice president and chief people officer Amy Coleman asserted that it’s “not about reducing headcount”. The mandate comes just a couple of months after the company’s mass layoffs which saw about 9,000 employees let go and several games cancelled. The bloodletting hasn’t stopped since that point either, with The Seattle Times reporting this week that Microsoft have laid off a further 42 employees, bringing the total to 15,000 since May.
In my experience, there are two kinds of tank in Battlefield games. There are the ones driven by other people, which are cut from solid granite yet move like ballet dancers. And then there are the ones driven by me, which are made out of candy floss and handle like shopping trolleys. Possibly, this reflects some kind of underlying “skill issue”, but come now, that’s speculative reporting that flies in the face of logic. Clearly it’s a balancing issue. Here’s Battlefield 6 lead producer David Sirland with a little more, based on learnings during the new shooter‘s multiplayer beta.
Introducing the Detective and Viper.
Among Us has received a new update across all platforms this week, bumping it up to Version 17.0.0 and adding two new roles to the game along with various quality of life updates.
The new roles include the Detective and the Viper. Here’s a rundown about both roles courtesy of developer Innersloth, along with a look:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Introducing the Detective and Viper.
Among Us has received a new update (17.0.0) across all platforms today, adding two new roles to the game and various quality of life updates.
The new roles include the Detective and the Viper. Here are the abilities of both, along with a look:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Pre-orders open this week.
Square Enix will be releasing a physical version of Star Ocean: First Departure R on the Switch with the help of Limited Run Games.
There’ll be a standard edition ($39.99), SteelBook Bundle Edition ($79.99), and Collector’s Edition ($199.99). Pre-orders open on 12th September 2025.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
No wake, no bake?
We’ve been putting a procession of 8BitDo controllers through the review process since Switch 2 launched. I’ve covered their excellent Pro 3 controller, whilst Ollie has been all over the new Arcade Stick for Switch + Switch 2 and the Ultimate 2C, which is the budget-friendly version of what I’m taking a look at today – the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless.
First and foremost, for anyone who doesn’t gel with the shape of the Pro 3 controller, what you’ve got here is one that suits those lovely, soft, Xbox-controller-shaped paws you’ve developed over the years. I know for some this can be a dealbreaker, especially with how the thumbsticks sit horizontally aligned on the Pro 3, so if that has been holding you back, this may be the pad you’re after. Things under the hood aren’t showing a lot of difference otherwise.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
