The Week in Gaming - Issue #11

Highlights of the Week

• Microsoft assures players that Turn 10 and Playground Games will continue to support Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon 5 in the wake off its massive layoff last month that affected both Forza studios. Eurogamer

• Tencent has updated Light of Motiram’s Steam page in an initial response to Sony’s filed lawsuit. The updates included changes to the description and replacement of artwork showing an Aloy-like female protagonist. IGN

• Battlefield 6's second beta weekend has kicked off and includes tweaks due to player feedback and the introduction of custom match searching. EA has also indicated to players that bigger map sizes will be available on launch of the product, after fielding complaints with the map sizes in beta testing. Rock Paper Shotgun

Game News

• Cozy sim Fae Farm will be losing its online support on Steam next month (Sept 10), according to the Phoenix Lab dev team. The single player offline mode will remain playable; the game will no longer receive any updates. MMORPG.com

• Sixteen years after launch, League of Legends is adding the ability to use a WASD control scheme, now supporting the most common control scheme across modern PC games. MMORPG.com

• PUBG: Battlegrounds is ending support for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The development team will be focusing on current gen consoles for future updates. Starting November 13, the title will no longer be downloadable or playable on the previous-gen consoles. ComicBook Gaming

• Pearl Abyss’s open world game, Crimson Desert, has been delayed until Q1 2026 due to issues around voiceover scheduling, console certifications, and coordination with offline distributors. MMORPG.com

Upcoming

• Co-op brick adventure game, LEGO Voyagers, has been scheduled for release on September 15 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S|X, Switch, and PC. Eurogamer

• Krafton’s sims-like, InZoi, will be launching on PS5 next year. The title released as Steam Early Access in March of this year. Gamespot

• Godforge, an upcoming mobile hero collector RPG, will be launching in 2026. The community-forward title is being developed by Fateless and currently has a beta signup available. Pocket Gamer

• Uno Wonder, the latest iteration of the Uno experience, is launching for mobile devices on September 15. Pocket Gamer

• SEGA and Sports Interactive have announced that Football Manager 2026 is in development, though a release date is not yet disclosed. Eurogamer

• Exploration game Lushfoil Photography Sim is coming to Steam VR. The game originally released on PC and console earlier this year (April). Eurogamer

• The Hell is Us demo has returned for PC and is now available for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The demo will available until August 28. Eurogamer

• Bandai Namco has leaked a remaster of Tales of Xillia in a placeholder video that was accidentally published on YouTube. GamesRadar

• Ratatan, the spirtual successor to Patapon, will be arriving on Early Access for Steam on September 19. The title was originally set to arrive on July 25 but was delayed by its developer, Ratata Arts. Video Games Chronicle

• R-Type Delta: HD Boosted will be launching for Switch in the West on November 20. Nintendo Life

• VR RTS action-battler, Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss will be launching for Steam VR and MetaQuest later this year. GamesBeat

New Releases

• Velan Studio’s Midnight Murder Club launched into Early Access on PC and PS5 this week. A guest pass system is included to bring your friends along for the party chaos. PlayStation Blog

Game Updates

• World of Tanks is celebrating its 15th year of service with a special event battle pass, new modes, and bonuses for long time account holders. MMORPG.com

• HoYoverse announced that Genshin Impact will be receiving a User-Generated Content Gameplay System that allows players to design, create, and play their own game stages. ComicBook Gaming

• Cyberpunk hero collector Mutant Summoners has officially released on iOS and is offering new players 1,000 free summons to start their journey in the game. Game Press

Game Tech

• Alternative app store Skich has launched on Android, following its launch on iOS in the European Union earlier this year. The store is currently onboarding developers, with over 100 studios interested in joining. The platform provides a 15% revenue share for developers. GamesIndustry.biz

• Microsoft is adding the ability to download ARM64 compatible games to its Xbox app for Windows on Arm. Windows Insiders can now test the update for the Xbox app. The Verge Games

Social Impacts

• Blizzard's story and franchise development division have voted to unionize, joining nearly 3,000 workers at Microsoft-owned studios under the Communication Workers of America. GamesIndustry.biz

• The Pokémon and McDonald's collaboration in Japan ended early due to scalping and an extreme amount of food waste as Pokémon fans slammed into stores to purchase and discard food for an exclusive Pikachu trading card. Eurogamer

• Stripe has apologized following reports that its customer service agents have told callers that Stripe does not support the sale of LGBTQ content. The Verge Games

• Trans News Network reported that Itch.io's mass delisting of paid adult content has also affected safe-for-work games with yuri or lesbian themes after receiving multiple developer reports. Itch has apologized after initially attacking Trans News Network, calling it “full of misinformation” and have added that they “did not do any blanket admin restriction on pages targeting LGBTQIA creators” in the audit. Itch blames autocomplete functionality on the reports. Rock Paper Shotgun

• Content creator Lelani ‘LockedElf’ is launching CTRL+HER, an initiative to empower South African women by teaching them how to build their own working computers. NAG

• A machine translation for The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles, a pixel art dungeon crawler caused the title to be listed as “Shitty Dungeon” on Steam in Japan. PC Gamer

• A TV show based on Ubisoft’s Far Cry franchise is allegedly in development at FX. Eurogamer

• The Legend Of Zelda Movie's social media account on X has gone live. The bio for the social media account mentions that the film is coming exclusively to theatres in 2027. Nintendo Life

Till next week,

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