In a gaming landscape that feels like it's dominated by sequels, remakes, and remasters, Capcom's new original game, Pragmata, launched recently and got off to a very good start. Capcom said in a news release that the game sold more than 1 million units over its first 48 hours following its release on April 17.

Pragmata is a near-future-set sci-fi action-adventure game focusing on the character Hugh Williams and an robot girl, Diana. Capcom said in its announcement of the sales milestone that Pragmata was developed "by a team of younger Capcom developers" who brought new ideas into the mix.

Capcom said it promoted the game with a range of marketing pushes and offered a playable demo for players to try. Additionally, Capcom said it tried to reach a wider audience by bringing the game to the Switch 2 at launch (it's coming to Switch 2 in Japan and other parts of Asia on April 24). Capcom said its efforts "generated significant momentum" for Pragmata , which helped the game reach 1 million sales in 48 hours.

One of the worst kept secret's in gaming--according to Ubisoft's own admission--will be unveiled on April 23, with Ubisoft confirming that's the date for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's upcoming remake/remaster.

The "Worldwide Reveal Showcase" for the game, called Resynced, will debut on YouTube that day at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. Ubisoft's teaser video called Resynced "gaming's worst-kept secret."

Ubisoft confirmed Resynced back in March as part of a wider announcement about the franchise in general, showing off a piece of concept art depicting Edward Kenway standing on a ship's mast (see below).

The pirate game Windrose is off to a great start, as the game has sold 1 million copies and reached more than 220,000 peak concurrent users on Steam alone, the developer announced.

The early access game's all-time high for peak concurrent users on Steam was 222,134, and that record was achieved on Sunday, April 19. The game is also available on the Epic Games Store and Stove, so the Steam audience represents just a piece of the game's total audience.

Windrose is the No. 1 best-selling game on Steam in the US right now and ranks No. 2 globally.

People looking forward to the Mass Effect TV show may have been dismayed recently after a report said the sci-fi series was being partially re-written to appeal to "non-gamers." Now, one of the show's writers, Daniel Casey (Fast & Furious 9), has responded to that report, saying he's never heard of any directive to change any scripts.

Posting online, Casey said he is unable to share specifics about the Mass Effect script, but he said the article making those claims about the show "caught me off guard" like it did for many fans.

"I don't know where that 'non-gaming audiences' quote came from or who said it, but at no point has that been said to me," Casey said.

Shuhei Yoshida, the 30-year PlayStation veteran who left the company in 2025, has shed more light regarding the situation that culminated in his eventual exit from the company. He said at the ALT: GAMES event recently in Australia that after 11 years leading Worldwide Studios, he was "fired from the role."

As reported by This Week In Video Games, Yoshida said he was fired from that job in 2019 in part because he refused to listen to PlayStation's top boss, Jim Ryan. He retired in 2024.

"Jim Ryan wanted to remove me from first-party because I didn't listen to him," he said. "He asked to do some ridiculous things, and I said, 'No.'"

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has once again weighed in with his thoughts on artificial intelligence, saying at a recent event that people should stop with the AI doomer narrative, while also acknowledging that AI, like other technologies, can be used for evil. He also talked about how developers at Take-Two's studios can use AI to do "mundane" tasks and pushed back against the idea that advancements to AI will lead to mass unemployment in creative fields, citing Elon Musk as evidence.

Speaking at Semafor's World Economy 2026 event, Zelnick said the work his studios--including 2K and Rockstar--do involves computers, and developers are always looking for ways to improve their production pipelines. He imagines AI will be no different in that respect.

"Everything we create is created in computers using tools. So, new tools are really, really exciting for our business," he said.

Nintendo's decision to return to filmmaking after 1993's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was widely panned and bombed at the box office, has been a huge success. After another lucrative weekend in theaters, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has now made nearly $750 million worldwide, which, combined with the $1.36 billion for 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, amounts to more than $2 billion.

Of course, Nintendo does not keep all of the box office proceeds, as money is distributed among numerous different sources involved with production, but it's still a staggering sum. The movies have benefitted Nintendo beyond its cut of the proceeds, as Mario game sales jumped when The Super Mario Bros. Movie came out, and it's expected that will happen with the Galaxy movie as well, but Nintendo has yet to confirm this. To capitalize on the hype surrounding the movie, Nintendo launched a special Switch 2/Galaxy-themed offer.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the highest-grossing video game film of all time, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($747 million) is already No. 3 on the list--and it's closing in on A Minecraft Movie ($960 million) for the No. 2 spot.

One of the best Call of Duty games in recent times, 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from developer Infinity Ward, is out now on Xbox Game Pass. The game is available for the Premium and Ultimate tiers of Game Pass, as well as PC Game Pass.

Modern Warfare scored generally positive review scores upon release and was a blockbuster success in terms of sales. The campaign was a bright spot for many, telling another globe-trotting story and kicking off a new Modern Warfare series following the popular games earlier in the 2000s.

Modern Warfare's campaign brought back Captain John Price (with a new actor) and introduced Commander Farah Karim. She was played by Claudia Doumit, who starred on Prime Video's The Boys. Her missions were some of the best and most memorable from the campaign.

Iron Galaxy Studios, the Illinois-based independent developer, has announced a round of layoffs that could affect as many as 90 people. It's the second round of layoffs in as many years, with Iron Galaxy cutting 66 staff in 2025.

The studio announced the news on LinkedIn, writing, "Iron Galaxy Studios regrets to announce that we are reducing our company size."

"We are terribly sorry to lose them as we take steps to adapt to the climate of the video game industry. It's time for us to evolve again," the studio said.

Actor Charlie Cox, who voices Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, has finally played the celebrated game, but he's admitted he's not very good at it.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Cox said he's played "a bit of it," but mostly just the beginning of the popular game. "I've played the opening bit for a while and kind of walked around and met the people and garnered the information and all that kind of stuff. Not very well. I'm not very good," he said.

The Daredevil actor also reflected on what it felt like to play a character he himself performed. "It didn't really feel like me ... I didn't really think of it as me, I thought of it as Gustave," he said.

It's been a rocky road for Netflix's gaming output thus far, as the streaming giant was once invested in big, AAA games, but made drastic cuts and has since shifted toward mobile and party games. The company has been invested in gaming for more than five years already, and while the company said it's inspired by the results so far, there is still "tons more work to do" before Netflix really shows up in gaming in a way that it set out to do years ago.

During Netflix's latest earning briefing (via Motley Fool), co-CEO Greg Peters started off by answering the question, "Why are we doing this?" in regards to getting into gaming in the first place. As some may recall, Netflix once wanted to rent you games via a service called Qwiskter, but that did not pan out.

Netflix tried again for an obvious reason: There is money to be made. "At the highest level, we really see this as a significant market opportunity," Peters said, mentioning that there is a $150 billion gaming market--that doesn't even include China or Russia--that Netflix wants to tap into.

Netflix has multiple upcoming video game adaptations in the works, one of which is a movie version of Gears of War. David Leitch, known for his work on the John Wick series, is directing the movie and has now said Netflix is "100% behind it" and the movie is likely to get made.

"Gears of War, I think, is going to happen. We have a great draft that's in progress that's in really great shape. The studio's more determined than ever to make it," he told Collider. "Netflix is 100% behind it."

Leitch said developer The Coalition is "fired up," too, mentioning that the studio's new game, E-Day, is coming this year. "So it's all lining up that the movie will happen," he said.

New details have come to light regarding Sony's upcoming multiplayer live-service game, Fairgame$, including information about one of its game modes and its reported business model.

When Fairgame$ was announced in 2023, Sony called it a "competitive heist experience," and now Insider Gaming has reported details on one of its game modes, Cargo Heist. This will reportedly play out in three phases, including Break In, which has players looking for a vault code and collecting cash to upgrade their skillset. In the next phase, Drill, players will get inside the vault and fight to collect the cargo. The third phase is Extract, which has players carrying the cargo to an extraction site.

Fairgame$ could have other modes, but only Cargo Heist was detailed in the report. Some are saying this description gives off Marathon vibes, which itself is an extraction-based game.

A Call of Duty movie is now in the works at Paramount with big names attached to write and direct. It's been a long time coming, as Activision first announced plans for a Call of Duty movie--and an entire universe of Call of Duty films--more than a decade ago. But now the project is progressing, and at CinemaCon this year, Paramount announced a release date for the long-in-development project.

In this post, we're rounding up everything we know about the Call of Duty movie. We'll update this post in the future as more details are divulged.

What is the Call of Duty movie about?

This is one of the biggest questions people have about the Call of Duty movie, and we don't yet have an answer. In the original announcement, Paramount and Activision said they were "committed to honoring the brand's rich narrative and distinctive style," going on to promise an "authentic and exciting experience" that can appeal to longtime fans and newcomers. These are marketing buzzwords and don't tell us much of anything about what the Call of Duty movie will actually be.

Microsoft Gaming's new CEO, Asha Sharma, has said Xbox Game Pass is "too expensive" for players, but what is she going to do about that? According to The Verge, Microsoft is kicking around a few ideas for how to shake up the Xbox Game Pass service, including by introducing a new tier that only includes first-party Xbox games made by studios that Microsoft owns.

The Verge also published another line from Sharma's memo to staff recently. It said Game Pass is "central to gaming value on Xbox," but also that it's become clear that "the current model isn't the final one." The memo added, "Player behavior, content economics, and markets vary too much for a single approach to work everywhere." The other parts of the memo, which were published previously, included a mention from Sharma that she wanted to evolve Game Pass to become a "more flexible system."

Beyond a new Game Pass tier for first-party games, The Verge said Microsoft is also considering more bundling of third-party services. Currently, Game Pass Ultimate also includes subscriptions to Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft+ Classics, and EA Play. There's no word on what other third-party services could be added to Game Pass, but Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in March that he and Sharma had "kicked around ideas" in regards to bundling.

Grand Theft Auto Online is celebrating the stoner holiday of 4/20 coming up soon, and the centerpiece of the update is a new mode called Stoner Survival.

Players can look for the "Survival Blip" on the map, and then head to the Senora Desert Trailer Park to kick off the mode, which is available right now. After taking a hit of a jazz cigarette, players will begin to hallucinate as they face waves of aliens, life-sized action figures, wrench-wielding clowns, and big chickens. The mode opens at 4:20 PM each day, and pays out quadruple GTA$ and RP through April 22.

Players who survive five waves will get the Sasquatch outfit and an allotment of $420,000 worth of GTA$. You can check out a teaser for the mode in the video below. The Stoner Survival mode reminds us of the Grass Roots mission from GTA 5 where players get high and fight their hallucinations.

The developers of Roblox have agreed to pay more than $12 million to the state of Nevada as part of a move that the state and the studio believe will help better protect children.

Roblox Corp. is paying the money in lieu of litigation, and state Attorney General Aaron Ford said the first-of-its-kind agreement will see the developer give $10 million over three years to support Boys & Girls Club and other groups like it. Additional money from the agreement will help fund the creation of a "law enforcement liaison position" and to help fund an online safety awareness campaign, according to the AP.

Other states, including Texas and Kentucky, have launched formal lawsuits against Roblox Corp., claiming the company is not doing enough to safeguard children.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma recently said in a memo to staff that Xbox Game Pass has become too expensive for players and that she wanted to create a "better value equation" and offer greater flexibility to players. It remains to be seen what changes might come to Game Pass, but researcher and educator Joost van Dreunen has now offered his thoughts, saying Microsoft--and the industry at large--should embrace advertising. Meanwhile, a former PlayStation executive said Game Pass is in dire straights currently.

Van Dreunen said on his blog an "ultra-low" Game Pass tier, possibly priced at $6/month, could be one way forward for Microsoft to create more flexibility with the subscription service. Pricing will not address the underlying problem with Game Pass, van Dreunen said.

"Research on subscription models in the console industry has found that while subscriptions change purchasing behavior--subscribers buy fewer individual titles--they do not meaningfully expand the overall market. Adding more games to a library does not attract players who weren't already gaming. Subscriptions excel at retention. They perform much worse as a driver of growth," he said.

Xbox boss Matty Booty has commented on the upcoming PC/console hybrid device currently in the works under the codename Project Helix. Appearing on the newest Xbox podcast, Booty--who was recently promoted to chief content officer at Xbox--said Microsoft stands apart from other "big publishers" because the company has both hardware and software divisions, and this is helping make Project Helix better.

It's true that not every publisher has hardware and software divisions, but Microsoft's biggest competitors--Sony and Nintendo--do. In any event, Booty said Xbox's hardware and software teams got involved with Project Helix "early on" to map out the vision and technical specs for Helix.

"We're there every step of the way as these things come along, so it's an exciting time. As we've done with many consoles before, those two teams will work hand-in-hand as we get that together," he said. "As the hardware comes online, our teams will be the first to get involved. There's already a lot of that already happening."

An elderly woman has been confirmed OK after police were called to her home for a welfare check, only to find her playing video games--and trying to break a personal record.

News 5 Cleveland reports that authorities were dispatched to the woman's home on April 9 after she did not answer a call from an automated welfare-check system. This was part of the city's use of the "Confirm OK" system, whereby people can agree to get calls for welfare checks.

The woman did not answer these calls, or a call from a police dispatcher. Authorities then called the woman's daughter to confirm that her mother should have been home at the time. Police then went to the home for a wellness check and initially "became more alarmed" because the woman did not answer their knock.