Gaming News Daily

📰 Insider Suggests GTA 6 Gameplay Trailer Coming in August Industry insider NateTheHate has suggested that fans will see "a fair bit" of GTA 6 in August, implying a proper gameplay trailer could be on the way. No official confirmation from Rockstar Games has been made. Source

🎮 GTA 6 New Info Expected in August, Insider Says Insider NateTheHate, who has a track record on unannounced game details, says he expects "a fair bit" of GTA 6 to surface in August. He also pushed back on delay concerns: "They have a marketing plan & they are sticking to that plan. No reason for concern," adding the game will launch on time on November 19. The timing aligns with Take-Two's next earnings report, scheduled for August 7, and with the company's own stated plan to begin GTA 6 marketing in summer. Preorders opened June 25 — $80 for standard, $100 for premium. The game is confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S; Switch 2 testing is reportedly underway, per separate reports. Source

🎮 Subnautica 2 Hits 5M Sales in 22 Days, Krafton Eyes Franchise Subnautica 2 has sold over 5 million copies in its first 22 days, prompting publisher Krafton to commit to building the series into a full "franchise IP." The milestone comes after a turbulent period for the property — Krafton spent the past year in a legal dispute with Unknown Worlds developers before reaching a settlement that included bonus payments to the studio's staff. Source

🎮 Konami Plans Annual Silent Hill Releases to Prove Commitment Konami producer Motoi Okamoto has revealed that the company's strategy of developing multiple Silent Hill titles simultaneously is deliberate — aimed at demonstrating a long-term commitment to the franchise after nearly a decade of inactivity. "The main reason why we decided to have multiple titles in the works — like three games in the works at the same time — was because we wanted to convey to the players that Konami is serious about coming back into the gaming landscape," Okamoto said via a translator. The goal is to sustain an annual release cadence so players know "it's not a facade." Currently in development are Silent Hill f and Silent Hill: Townfall, alongside the already-released 2024 Silent Hill 2 remake. The franchise had been dormant for roughly a decade following the cancellation of Silent Hills, which PT had teased. Source

🏢 Wizards of the Coast President John Hight Steps Down John Hight is leaving the Wizards of the Coast presidency on September 1st, according to an SEC filing dated July 27th. He will move into an advisory role rather than exit the company entirely. Hight took the presidency in August 2023, roughly two years before his departure. The announcement follows Hasbro recording a $56 million impairment charge last week tied to cancelled video game projects. Source

🛠 Xbox CTO Explains What Caused Monday's Server Outage Xbox CTO Mark Russinovich has addressed the major server outage that hit Xbox on Monday, apologising to affected players and outlining steps being taken to prevent a recurrence. The outage knocked out several core functions, including game purchases, downloads, offline play, and even disc-based games. Services have since been fully restored. Source

🛠 13 Ubisoft Games Get Free PC Copies for Xbox Owners Thirteen Ubisoft titles — including Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Skull and Bones, and Rainbow Six Siege — are now part of Xbox's Console to PC program, granting free PC versions to players who already own them on Xbox. Source

🛠 Arc System Works Apologises for Marvel Tokon Beta PC Issues Arc System Works has issued an apology after the Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls open beta on PC was marred by widespread performance problems over the weekend. The studio acknowledged the issues and said it is working on fixes ahead of the game's full launch. Source

🛠 Xbox Network Down Across Multiple Services Microsoft has confirmed a major Xbox Network outage affecting account sign-in, the storefront, game libraries, and apps. Users worldwide are reporting inability to log in, disconnections, and missing titles in their libraries. Xbox Support stated: "Our engineers are actively working to mitigate the issue." No ETA has been provided for a fix. The outage follows a PlayStation Network disruption last week that took down account management, gaming, social features, the PS Store, and PlayStation Video for several hours. Source

🛠 Stalker 2: Cost of Hope Expansion Launches August 20 GSC Game World has dated Stalker 2's first major expansion, Cost of Hope, for August 20 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The expansion follows protagonist Skif tracking a mysterious PDA signal as the Zone's Duty and Freedom factions clash. GSC promises "dozens of hours of content" plus new allies, enemies, weapons, and locations. Cost of Hope launches alongside the free Update 2.0, which moves the base game to a newer version of Unreal Engine 5 and adds further content and improvements. Source

🛠 Baldur's Gate 3 Console Update Adds New Classes and Wildshapes The latest content drop for Baldur's Gate 3 on console introduces new classes and subclasses, including a spellcasting Barbarian and the Shadow Reaper class, alongside a range of new Druid Wildshape options. Source

🎮 Final Fantasy 14 Launches on Switch 2 in August Final Fantasy 14 is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in August, including the game's free trial. A teaser trailer for the Evercold expansion was also released alongside the announcement. Source

🎮 Final Fantasy XIV Launches on Switch 2 This August Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in August, with crossplay support confirmed, allowing Switch 2 players to share servers with those on other platforms. The Switch 2 version will include a free trial and will require the standard FFXIV subscription to access the full game beyond the trial content. Source

💻 Xbox PC Backward Compat Runs Emulator Inside an Emulator Microsoft's newly added backward-compatible Xbox games on PC are running via an original Xbox emulator nested inside an Xbox 360 emulator — a layered setup that users have already begun exploiting to run additional Xbox 360 titles beyond those officially supported. The architecture, described as an emulator within an emulator, emerged as players examined how the backward compatibility layer functions on PC. The discovery has prompted experimentation with unofficial titles running through the same stack. Source

🛠 Final Fantasy XIV Plans Two Major Housing System Overhauls Square Enix is planning two significant overhauls to Final Fantasy XIV's housing system, with the development team acknowledging it is "probably the number 1 thing on the list a lot of people are requesting." No release window or specific details on the changes were confirmed, but the studio indicated the updates are actively in development. Source

🛠 007 First Light Patch 1.1.0 Fixes Over 200 Issues The first major post-launch update for 007 First Light is now live. Patch 1.1.0 addresses more than 200 issues flagged by the community and internal playtesters. Source

🎮 Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Hits 5 Million Players The action RPG Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has surpassed five million players, a notable milestone given that the game's development studio collapsed during production. Source

🎮 Fan-Made Portal Remake Done, But Valve Won't Respond Portal: Alive & Kicking, a fan-made remake 15 years in the making, is fully complete — but the team can't release it because Valve has stopped responding to their communications. The developers say the project is 100% finished and ready to launch, but are waiting on Valve's approval before they can put it out publicly. Source

🛠 Modern Warfare 4 Beta to Feature Low-SBMM Playlists Activision has confirmed that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta will include dedicated low-skill-based matchmaking playlists, as the publisher says it continues to "learn a lot about multiplayer matchmaking." A new matchmaking system is also being introduced in Black Ops 7. Source

🏢 Thick As Thieves Drops Support Two Months After Launch Warren Spector's stealth game Thick As Thieves is ending official support just two months after release, following significant layoffs at the studio. The leaner team is hoping to keep the game running via peer-to-peer servers. Source