It’s lastly cool to be an actor in video video games. Xbox’s new CEO is treading rigorously and carrying a giant stick with regards to exclusivity. The Swap might have simply been dealt a deathblow in its race to outsell the PlayStation 2 for the title of hottest sport console ever.
It’s Kotaku‘s Checkpoint roundup for Could 8, 2026, the place I’m nonetheless catching my breath from the avalanche of reports that broke in a single day in Japan and nonetheless eager about the brand new Star Fox. We’re simply regular males. We’re simply harmless males. Clair Obscur exhibits how views round online game performing have modified “My first engagement with video video games was with an organization referred to as Ninja Concept, and we made a sport referred to as Heavenly Sword for PlayStation 3,” Andy Serkis, who performed one of many sport’s antagonists, King Bohan, stated in a brand new interview with Selection. “At that time, actors regarded down on video video games as like, ‘I wouldn’t get entangled in a online game.’ Now, younger actors are popping out of drama colleges, they usually’re like ‘I actually wanna be in a online game.’”
Serkis, presently selling his new and extensively panned adaptation of Animal Farm, performed Renoir in final 12 months’s hit RPG alongside a number of different high-profile abilities. He stated performing in video games not has the stigma it as soon as did, particularly as films borrow the expertise and tales of gaming.
“The irony is that Hollywood is utilizing online game engines to drive all the previews for all the massive motion sequences in all the films, but additionally for cinematographers to make use of pre-vis and to have the ability to place mild sources or moonlight or daylight very particularly in a shot,” he stated. The Gollum actor continued, “It’s a vital device of recent filmmaking. And there has all the time been that snobbery about video video games not being wherever close to filmmaking however that’s all altering. And positively trying into the longer term when we now have extra immersive storytelling, which is what’s occurring.”
Xbox boss Asha Sharma is “treading rigorously” with regards to exclusivity That’s in accordance with a report this week by The Verge‘s Tom Warren about how Phil Spencer’s alternative is navigating a sophisticated platform legacy inherited from her predecessor. “Sources inform me Sharma has been evaluating a variety of choices for Xbox unique video games, however is treading rigorously right here and isn’t but able to decide to any main adjustments,” he writes. “Exclusivity is a thorny concern for followers, notably as a result of there was an absence of readability on Microsoft’s technique right here over the previous two years.” The Nintendo Swap is working out of fuel to beat the PlayStation 2 The Mario maker is forecasting 2 million gross sales of its legacy console in 2026, which might carry its lifetime complete as much as 158 million. That’s nonetheless 2 million in need of the PS2, which Sony revealed to have offered 160 million models after randomly updating the quantity only a few years in the past. Nonetheless, by no means say by no means. The Swap 2 now costing $500 may incentivize some individuals to simply decide up its last-gen counterpart, particularly because it arguably has top-of-the-line libraries of video games ever amassed. 2K Video games lays off builders engaged on its live-service shooter On-line shooter Mission Ethos is dealing with an unspecified variety of cuts because it tries to pivot after a poorly acquired beta again in 2024. “Our success relies on our capability to work extra shortly and nimbly,” thirty first Union studio head Ben Brinkman wrote in a memo to workers shared with Kotaku and first reported on by GamesIndustry.biz. “To do this, we’ve made the troublesome resolution to reduce our workforce to higher align with the place we’re in growth, which sadly means parting methods with some valued colleagues at present.”
Path of Exile 2 is including one other 50 hours to its endgame The subsequent replace is named Return of the Ancients and drops on Could 29. Grinding Gear confirmed it’s the final main replace earlier than the action-RPG sequel hits its 1.0 launch. Return of the Ancients will embrace a reworked Atlas Tree, two new Ascendancy courses, 5 new storylines, and 15 new bosses, amongst different additions and quality-of-life enhancements. Netflix’s Satan Could Cry is getting a 3rd season That’s in accordance with MP1st, which reviews that the animated adaptation helmed by showrunner Adi Shankar is already in manufacturing for extra episodes forward of its season 2 premiere on Could 12. There’s nonetheless no phrase but on when Capcom will carry the motion franchise again for its sixth numbered sequel. “PlayStation’s preservation journey is on its approach.” A Sony engineer engaged on the corporate’s IP preservation workforce spurred hopes of comebacks for varied PlayStation classics with a submit on social media. “With the ability to share our imaginative and prescient, work, hopes and desires with Sony management was a particular second for our workforce, and I’m excited to see the place we go from right here,” he wrote alongside a presentation slide and emblem artwork displaying mascots for Sly Cooper and Ape Escape. ICYMI: Watch this:
