~Gaming

Xbox’s October 1–4 Free Play Days lineup features five Ubisoft games: **Far Cry 6, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones,** and **The Crew Motorfest**. Xbox Wire says this event is open to all Xbox members, with no Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or Essential membership required for the promotion.  The free-play window runs through **Sunday, October 4**. Install the titles from their individual Xbox store pages or find the Free Play Days collection on console. Progress and achievements carry over if you decide to buy a game, though discounts and availability vary by region and title. Source and installation details: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/10/01/free-play-days-01-10-2026/

**October 2026 guide.** Thatgamecompany’s monthly roundup sets out a busy few weeks for Sky: Children of the Light: the Season of Pearl begins October 16, Days of Mischief starts October 23, and Update 35.0 is currently planned for October 13. The studio says all event times in its calendar are Pacific Time, so convert them to your local time before planning a group run.  ## Dates to save - **October 13 — Update 35.0:** the developer says full patch notes and an update video will arrive later in the month. - **October 16 to December 31 — Season of Pearl:** meet the Old Angler, hear their story and begin a new adventure at sea. - **October 23 to November 12 — Days of Mischief:** return to the Cackling Crab, meet visiting characters and try the new Dark Dragons vs. Crabs game, alongside returning activities such as Broom Races. - **October 23 to November 6 — Community goal:** if players collectively give the rooftop krill 250,000 “hugs” (tackles), everyone receives a special inbox memento.  The monthly schedule also lists Traveling Spirit visits on October 8–11 and October 22–25. Dates can change, so check the in-game news board and the official roundup for updates before you travel. Source and full schedule: https://www.thatskygame.com/news/this-month-in-sky-october-2026-edition/

Capcom’s September 16 main trailer introduces the Norgan region and new enemies ahead of Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’s October 9 release. Nintendo Switch 2 gets a package with the base game and expansion; the expansion will also be sold separately on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmKyRay8hGc Source: Capcom.

ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE launched worldwide on October 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Bandai Namco calls it the first mainline entry in seven years; it includes a campaign and cross-play multiplayer. Watch the official launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/embed/F54vGYxj0ts?rel=0  Source: Bandai Namco — https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/ace-combat-8-wings-of-theve-takes-flight-today

State of Decay developer Undead Labs says it has parted ways with a “significant number” of colleagues after completing its separation from Xbox. In a LinkedIn post tied to its independence announcement, the Seattle studio wrote that not everyone who helped build the studio and the franchise will finish the journey — without naming a headcount. Studio head Philip Holt told IGN that State of Decay 3 remains in active development and that the cuts will not impact the game’s launch. The title is still aimed at 2027 on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation, with day-one Game Pass on Xbox; a closed beta is planned before the end of 2026. Undead Labs is now operating as an independent studio, a path distinct from Ninja Theory, which faces a proposed closure after two failed sale agreements in Xbox’s wider restructuring. Sources: The Verge, IGN, Push Square / Undead Labs. Does Undead Labs’ independence — and these cuts — change how you feel about State of Decay 3’s 2027 window? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LK86QqnyA

Remedy Entertainment’s CONTROL Resonant — the sequel to Control — is playable now for PlayStation 5 Digital Deluxe owners. Forty-eight-hour early access unlocked September 22 at 7:00 a.m. PT (10:00 a.m. ET). The Standard Edition and Xbox Series X|S / PC versions wait for the worldwide launch on September 24 at the same 7:00 a.m. PT unlock across PS5, Xbox Series, and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store). You play as Dylan Faden in a Manhattan warped by a new resonance alongside the Hiss and the Mold, hunting for missing FBC Director Jesse Faden with the shapeshifting Aberrant weapon. Digital Deluxe on the US PlayStation Store is $69.99 (Standard $59.99) and includes artbook, soundtrack, and deluxe unlocks. Critic aggregates sit around 84 on Metacritic (PS5) and 85 on OpenCritic ahead of full release. Sources: Remedy Games, PlayStation Blog, Vice, OpenCritic. Will you jump in on PS5 Deluxe early access, or wait for the September 24 multiplatform launch? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuBwLaf2F9M

Funcom’s open-world survival game Dune: Awakening is out now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, including day-one Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere with shared progression across Xbox and the Microsoft Store PC build. The console launch ships with a major update for all platforms: a full single-player mode with difficulty presets and deep gameplay customization, the conclusion of Book One’s story so the campaign can be finished in one run, optional PvE-only play, rebuilt Landsraad endgame, and broader Arrakis content. Alongside it, the $9.99 Filmic Archive cosmetic DLC brings looks inspired by Dune: Part One and Part Two, including film armor, stillsuits, weapons, emotes, and a 73-piece Sardaukar building set. Steam has a 50% discount through October 8. Cross-play is planned post-launch; a Polar Cap survival map is due later this year. Sources: Funcom official, Xbox Wire, Bandai Namco Europe. Will you start on Arrakis solo, or jump straight into the public sands? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7OQJ9EbR0

Konami and Annapurna Interactive’s Silent Hill: Townfall is now playable for Digital Deluxe buyers, with 48-hour early access that began September 22 (September 21 evening in US Pacific). The full release lands September 24 on PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store). Developed by Screen Burn Interactive, the first-person horror entry sends Simon Ordell to the fog-shrouded island of St. Amelia. Players use a pocket CRTV to navigate narrative-driven puzzles, evasion, and combat in the Otherworld. Standard is $49.99; Digital Deluxe is $59.99 and adds an alternate Simon outfit, digital artbook, mini soundtrack, CRTV styles, and the early-access window. A launch trailer arrived September 21 ahead of the unlock. Sources: Konami, PlayStation Blog, GameRant unlock guide. What are you most nervous to face first in St. Amelia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WARs8turgnM

Rockstar Games has updated its modding guidelines with Grand Theft Auto VI approaching, spelling out tighter limits on what fans can change in its games. Coverage from Kotaku and The Verge, plus Game Developer, points to rules Rockstar shared around September 10, 2026 that apply to current titles such as GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 — and that will matter whenever GTA VI reaches PC. Under a “Respect Our Games” section, Rockstar says mods must not expand or modify official storylines, plots, missions, characters, or other parts of its established continuity. Crossover mods that pull maps, characters, assets, or other IP from one Rockstar title into another are banned. Multiplayer modding is limited to Rockstar’s official licensed Creator Platform, or other setups Rockstar licenses directly. Unauthorized ports to platforms Rockstar has not released, third-party IP, reused voiceovers, real-person likenesses without permission, and abusive monetization (including real-money loot boxes, selling virtual currency, or crypto/NFTs) are also off-limits. NoPixel V’s shift toward an official Rockstar partnership has already shown where licensed multiplayer is heading. For now the guidelines bite hardest on existing PC mod and roleplay communities; critics say the same rules could sharply narrow fan creativity once GTA VI is moddable on PC. Sources: https://kotaku.com/rockstar-asks-fans-to-respect-their-games-as-it-updates-strict-modding-guidelines-2000736306 https://www.theverge.com/games/998214/rockstar-updates-its-policies-on-mods-ahead-of-the-gta-vi-launch https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/-do-not-rockstar-outlines-modding-rules-before-gta-vi-touches-down Will Rockstar’s stricter mod rules help or hurt the next decade of GTA community creativity?

Xbox has confirmed 268 more job cuts and a major studio reorganization, Matt Booty wrote in an Xbox Wire note to Team Xbox on September 22, 2026. The cuts hit Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the Xbox Game Studios management and central functions layer. Combined with July’s actions and studio divestitures, Xbox says it is roughly three-quarters through the previously announced restructuring. Activision will take on World’s Edge and Rare, and will develop the next Halo with a new purpose-built team separate from Call of Duty. A small team at Halo Studios will keep supporting the community and games already in market. Bethesda’s remit expands to Obsidian, which continues current projects including Grounded and a new Fallout collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. King absorbs Microsoft Casual Games. Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios merge into one studio focused on Forza and Fable. On July’s divestitures: Compulsion and Double Fine returned to independent management in August with their IP and runway funding. Undead Labs has also transitioned and will release State of Decay 3 day one on Game Pass under a new publisher. Two sale agreements for Ninja Theory fell through; Xbox is starting employee consultation on a proposed closure while exploring other options. Arkane Lyon consultation continues through the end of 2026. Sources: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/22/continuing-our-reset/ https://www.gematsu.com/2026/09/xbox-lays-off-268-employees-as-halo-rare-and-worlds-edge-move-to-activision-obsidian-entertainment-moves-to-betheseda-softworks-and-playground-games-and-turn-10-studios-merge Does moving Halo’s next game to Activision change how you feel about the franchise’s future?

Xbox is reportedly preparing to cut hundreds more jobs this week and consolidate several of its game studios, according to The Information, citing someone briefed on Microsoft’s plans. Coverage from Gematsu and Video Games Chronicle (VGC) frames this as a second major staff reduction in 2026, after July’s Xbox Reset. In July, Xbox eliminated about 1,600 roles, divested five studios, and said another roughly 1,600 cuts would follow by the end of fiscal year 2027. The Information’s new reporting says several studios will be consolidated; specific studio names were not disclosed. VGC notes the report points toward mergers or movement across Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, Activision, and Blizzard. Separately, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said on the 8-4 Play podcast that Blizzard layoffs are “imminent,” after the studio recently announced STARCRAFT, Diablo V, and World of Warcraft: Forever. Microsoft has not publicly confirmed the September report or named affected teams. Halo-to-Activision rumors circulating alongside the story remain unverified and are not part of The Information’s core claim. Sources: https://www.gematsu.com/2026/09/the-information-xbox-to-cut-hundreds-of-jobs-consolidate-game-studios https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-will-reportedly-consolidate-several-studios-in-new-major-wave-of-layoffs/ Would another Xbox studio consolidation wave change how you follow the platform?

Bungie says it is beginning work to bring vaulted Destiny 2 campaigns, destinations, and raids back into the live game for all players — including the launch Red War campaign — after the studio wound down active Destiny 2 development earlier this year. In a September 21 studio update, Bungie called Destiny “foundational” to its future and wrote: “All of this is to say, we are not done with Destiny.” The studio credits community pushback after Monuments of Triumph was framed as the final Destiny 2 content update, and acknowledges that removing vaulted experiences “had a lasting impact on player trust.” Unvaulting is not a simple file restore: changes since Beyond Light mean lighting, encounters, combatants, and other systems must be updated to current standards, so the studio says the work will take time and more details will arrive in the coming months. Restoration is framed as the first step toward new Destiny stories and games. Separately, Bungie said Marathon underperformed vs hopes and will deepen into a broader survival experience (PvE / PvP / PvPvE), with Nightfall Refresh in October and Symbiosis in December. Sources: https://kotaku.com/destiny-2s-red-war-and-other-vaulted-content-is-coming-back-over-six-years-later-2000736168 https://gameinformer.com/2026/09/21/bungie-announces-plans-to-restore-vaulted-destiny-2-content-and-substantial-reworks-to Does bringing the Content Vault back earn Destiny another chance with you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnrQ1UoBQM

In his first exclusive interview since PlayStation walked away from Physint, Hideo Kojima told IGN that Sony Interactive Entertainment ended funding for the action-espionage project on a June Zoom call — leaving him so stunned his “mind went blank.” Kojima said Kojima Productions is project-funded as an indie, so losing Physint risked cashflow, bank loans, and ~200 staff (some moved temporarily to OD). He kept the news to a tiny circle at first, then told Physint leads he would find a new partner — and that he “didn’t want to do the same thing we did for P.T.” He pitched Xbox on a broader IP vision (game, film, anime, comics, music), not just a funded title; Xbox snapped it up. Work never fully stopped; engine choice still undecided. Whether Physint ships on PlayStation is “a question for Xbox.” A Kojima Productions statement (also covered by VGC) urges skepticism toward an unnamed report’s claims on Death Stranding performance and Physint planning: none came from official on-the-record sources. The studio says it is “healthy, profitable,” Physint continues with Xbox, and its PlayStation relationship “remains strong.” Sources: https://nordic.ign.com/hideo-kojima-xbox-project/113093/hideo-kojima-reveals-what-happened-with-sony-in-exclusive-first-interview-since-playstation-ditched https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/kojima-productions-asks-players-to-treat-report-on-why-it-switched-from-playstation-to-xbox-with-a-dose-of-scepticism/ Does Sony’s silent June cut change how you see Physint’s Xbox reboot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzdyORdg80

Blizzard appears to be aiming for a much stronger role-playing focus with Diablo V. Jennifer Hepler, a BioWare veteran who worked as a writer on the Dragon Age series, is leading the game’s narrative — and the team is reportedly looking at traditional RPGs such as Dragon Age and Baldur’s Gate for inspiration. That could mean a bigger emphasis on storytelling, characters, dialogue and player choice rather than focusing almost entirely on the loot grind. Personally, I think this could be a really interesting direction for Diablo. The series has always had a great world and lore, but the RPG side of it has often felt secondary to builds, loot and endgame progression. Would you like Diablo V to lean further into traditional RPG mechanics, or should Diablo stick to being an action RPG first?

I’ve been looking through everything Blizzard has shown about WoW: Forever over the last few days and honestly, I expected this to be another Classic experiment I’d forget about after a week. But the more I see, the more interested I am. The basic idea is pretty much what people have been asking for with Classic+ for years: keep the level cap at 60 and keep expanding Azeroth instead of moving everyone to the next expansion. And Blizzard seems to be going much further with it than I expected. The Skyborne are probably the weirdest addition The biggest new thing is obviously the Skyborne, the new playable race. They’re not locked to Alliance or Horde, which already makes them pretty unusual for WoW, and Blizzard has made an entirely new starting experience for them. They even have their own Druid forms. I’m still not completely sure how I feel about them. They look cool, but adding a completely new race to something that’s supposed to feel like old-school WoW could either work really well or feel completely out of place. Still, I’d rather see Blizzard try something new than just give us vanilla again. Skyborne screenshots: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303862/world-of-warcraft-forever-whats-next-panel-recap The new zones are what really sold me This is probably the part I care about most. Forever isn’t just adding a few quests to existing areas. Blizzard is opening up completely new parts of Azeroth. There are apparently more than 1,000 new quests, new leveling areas and completely new level 60 content. That’s basically what I always imagined Classic+ being. Not Classic with faster leveling. Not Classic with a few different abilities. Actually taking the original world and asking: “What else could have existed here?” https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24302093/chart-a-new-course-with-world-of-warcraft-forever Zephras Isle looks surprisingly good The Skyborne start in Zephras Isle, a completely new area. From what Blizzard has shown so far, it has this strange mix of classic Warcraft environments with a more elemental/Skywall kind of architecture. It definitely doesn’t look like something that was sitting unfinished on a hard drive since 2004, but at the same time it doesn’t look completely disconnected from Azeroth either. I’m really curious to actually walk around it rather than just seeing screenshots. Images and footage of Zephras Isle: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303862/world-of-warcraft-forever-whats-next-panel-recap Mount Hyjal is finally becoming proper content This might actually be my favorite part. Mount Hyjal is becoming a proper level 60 endgame zone. Anyone who played old WoW probably remembers all those places that looked like they were supposed to lead somewhere but never really did. Hyjal always felt like one of them. And this is exactly the kind of thing I want Forever to do. Don’t invent another continent. Take the places that already exist in Azeroth and finally do something with them. https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303862/world-of-warcraft-forever-whats-next-panel-recap And then there’s Riverglades Riverglades is another completely new zone, aimed roughly at the mid-level part of the game. Blizzard says it contains more than 150 quests by itself. This is probably the stuff I’m most excited to explore. One of my favorite things about vanilla WoW was simply walking into a zone I had never seen before and having absolutely no idea what was there. If Forever can bring some of that feeling back, I’ll be happy. Riverglades screenshots: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303862/world-of-warcraft-forever-whats-next-panel-recap There are a lot of new dungeons Blizzard has also revealed a bunch of new dungeon locations. Some of the names shown so far include Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, Dalaran, Alcaz Prison, Blackmaw Hold, The Drowned City and Krol’dok Stronghold. That’s probably where Forever has the most potential. There are so many places in vanilla WoW that were basically scenery, unfinished ideas or locations you could see but never properly explore. Now Blizzard can actually use them. Level 60 staying forever could be really interesting This is probably the most important part of the whole thing. The level cap stays at 60. So instead of: 60 → 70 → 80 → 90… Blizzard can just keep adding more stuff at level 60. In theory, that means old raids don’t immediately become completely pointless whenever new content comes out. Obviously we’ll have to see how they handle gear progression because this could become a complete mess after a few years. But I really like the idea. There are already new raids planned, including new level 60 content around Hyjal. Raid/dungeon information and screenshots: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303862/world-of-warcraft-forever-whats-next-panel-recap It’s not completely stuck in 2004 either Forever keeps the Classic style, but Blizzard is making some changes. There are visual improvements, optional newer character models, controller support, talent changes and various quality-of-life additions. The world itself is getting little graphical touches too — better water, fog, lighting and environmental effects. Personally, that’s fine with me. I want old Azeroth. I don’t necessarily need every tree to have the same number of polygons it had in 2004. The thing I’m worried about The difficult part is going to be knowing when to stop. Right now the idea sounds great: Classic Azeroth. Level 60. New zones. New raids. New dungeons. New quests. Keep expanding the same world. But if Blizzard keeps adding modern systems and convenience features over the next few years, at what point does Forever just become Retail with a Classic skin? That’s probably my biggest concern. If they can keep the slower progression, class identity, dangerous world and social side of Classic while adding genuinely new content, I think this could be really good. And the beta starts now The WoW: Forever beta starts September 17, so we’re finally going to see actual players exploring all of this. That’s what I’m waiting for. Screenshots are one thing. I want to see what these zones actually feel like when you’re running around them, how the new quests compare with vanilla quests and whether the Skyborne actually feel like they belong in Azeroth. Beta details: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24301508 For now though, I’m way more interested in Forever than I expected to be. I’ve wanted Blizzard to do something like this with old Azeroth for years. Now they just have to not screw it up. What do you guys think? Would you actually play WoW long-term if the level cap stayed at 60 and Blizzard just kept expanding Azeroth? Or do you think Forever will eventually become Retail with a Classic skin?