The Fortnite item shop has always been kind of annoying, because it's never had a consistent inventory you could browse like a normal store. There are more than 2,000 Fortnite skins that have been sold in the item shop, but only a few dozen are available on any given day. But Epic has never been content with just the FOMO angle--the company has been dinged by regulatory agencies all over the world for its "dark patterns" and coercive sale techniques. In some very significant ways, the Fortnite item shop is in much better shape now because of the changes those agencies forced Epic to implement--like being able to cancel an errant purchase, and knowing exactly when an item will leave the shop. Still, though, Epic continues to come up with new ways to make the Fortnite shopping experience more complicated and annoying, particularly in the past year. Let's break it down. Fortnite gift cards no longer exist You used to be able to buy a Fortnite gift card that would redeem directly for V-Bucks, but Epic stopped making those in 2025. While Epic does still have an item that it refers to as a "Fortnite Gift Card - Powered by the Epic Games Store," these are not actually Fortnite products at all. Instead, a current "Fortnite gift card" simply grants you credit in the Epic Games Store, and you can spend it on anything they sell on mobile or PC, including V-Bucks. So in reality these are EGS gift cards, and there is no current way to gift V-Bucks directly. This distinction is important because the physical "Fortnite gift cards" that are sold in stores (in denominations of $15, $30, $50, and $100) don't line up with any V-Buck purchase amounts. So if you receive a $30 card for your birthday, you can buy a 2,400 pack of V-Bucks and have $7 left over, or you can throw in $7 of your own money and get a 4,500 pack. Epic gift cards do have the added benefit of a 20% rebate in EGS credit when you put it toward Fortnite--but that's still an additional layer of stuff you have to think about beyond the original purchase, and all it really does is make you take extra steps to counter the most recent V-Buck price increase.  Oh, and if you play on Switch or Switch 2, you can't even use V-Bucks purchased with an EGS gift card on your device, because your V-Buck balance doesn't transfer to Nintendo's systems. Instead, you'll have to shop in a web browser and then restart your game to receive the items. More extra steps. Prices are a mess since the latest price change The latest price increase, back in the spring, was an example of shrinkflation--the prices stayed the same, but the amounts of V-Bucks you'd receive for your purchase went down. It used to be that $23 got you 2,800 V-Bucks, but now it's 2,400, and the other standard amounts have been adjusted similarly. On top of that, Epic added a new "exact purchase" feature that would allow you to purchase only the specific amount required for the thing you want to buy. That sounds good in theory, but it's a horrendous value given the way Epic implemented it. How it works is that it charges you two different rates within the same transaction. Let's use the new Lil Tecca bundle, which costs 2,600 V-Bucks, as an example. If you use the "exact amount" feature to purchase 2,600 V-Bucks, you'll pay $27--the first 2,400 costs $23 ($.95 per 100 V-Bucks), and the other 200 costs $4 ($2 per 100 V-Bucks). That might be tolerable in small amounts, but the value becomes increasingly terrible the more you're spending. Fortnite caps the price to use the "exact amount" just below that of the next tier of V-Bucks, meaning that if you're buying less than 4,500 V-Bucks with the "exact amount" feature, you will always pay less than the $37 that a 4,500 pack costs. But since using this feature is so exorbitantly expensive, you'll reach that cap by purchasing just 3,100 V-Bucks. And that means that using the "exact amount" feature to purchase any amount of V-Bucks between 3,100 and 4,400 will cost exactly $36.49. So if you were to use this feature to buy the Addison Rae bundle for 3,600 V-Bucks, you'd be shorting yourself 900 V-Bucks to save 50 cents. The price change and the expensive top-up are changes that work in tandem, because so many past shop bundles were oriented around the 2,800 V-Buck pack. I suspect that was one of the reasons Epic opted to shrink the V-Buck packs instead of raising prices again, because it theoretically pushes folks toward the unreasonable "exact amount" purchase or encourages them to get a bigger pack of V-Bucks instead. Fortunately for players, Epic has been offering more new shop bundles that actually line up with the new V-Buck amounts--Harley and Ivy, The Odyssey, Spider-Man, and David Beckham all received bundles that cost 2,400 or less, taking most of the friction out of the process for those items. But there are still plenty of new bundles that go beyond that price, like the recent Addison Rae, Lil Tecca, and Supergirl bundles. Shop FOMO is out of control There are more than 2,000 item shop skins, and just over half of them have appeared in the item shop at any point in the past four months. There are only a few dozen skins available to buy on any given day, there seems to be a limit on how many collabs they can have available at the same time, and the most popular Fortnite-original items rotate through over and over (like Aura, who appears in the shop several days every month) while less popular ones disappear indefinitely (like this cool bag man, who first appeared in the shop for three days last June and has never returned). Even collabs frequently suffer a similar fate--just ask any of the Attack on Titan or Transformers or God of War fans who've been waiting years to see those skins return. Similarly, they seem to only sell Star Wars cosmetics in May now.  The takeaway here is that it's not easy to shop for the things you want in Fortnite, because only a tiny portion of the game's cosmetics are available at a time. For Epic, that's always been the point--the FOMO system encourages you to watch the shop change every day and leap into action when something you want comes back. But if there's too much friction in that process, or if buying stuff routinely requires too much math and other mental effort, it can sour folks on the shop entirely. Other shenanigans Along with these broad, all-encompassing strategies, it appears that Epic has also been trying various other, more low-key techniques to boost sales both directly and indirectly. Since the Great AdiraFNInfo Incident back in the spring, in which Epic sued one of its former contractors for leaking upcoming collaborations, the Fortnite leaks scene has pretty much disappeared. This makes it harder to plan ahead, because we have much less of a sense of whether there's anything on the way worth saving our V-Bucks for. Epic has been frequently bringing back items individually, without the accessories that go with them or the bundles they belong to, which has been frustrating for folks who like having the full set. Sometimes they even return a skin and all its accessories but still leave out the bundle anyway, which essentially raises the price of the set. Over the past few months I've noticed a lot of strangely jumbled shop sections, like the above tab from the Toon Takeover section on June 15. It's impossible to tell with any confidence if the way this whole section was arranged--the above was one of six tabs of items and bundles from Futurama, Adventure Time, and Phineas and Ferb that were seemingly tossed together in a random order--was on purpose or just incompetence. But putting things in an order that people can't make sense of and deemphasizing the bundles so they look like just another item in the pile sounds more like a sales technique than it does an accident. Fortunately, we haven't seen this phenomenon pop up since Hot Bat Summer began in late July, so either they fixed the problem or stopped using this strategy, whatever the case actually was. The thing you have to keep in mind about all of this is that every irritation we've talked about here compounds with each other, and it ultimately creates a buying experience in which discerning customers are constantly frustrated, and undiscerning customers are overpaying without realizing it.

We’re currently experiencing a huge renaissance of Magic: The Gathering popularity. The 33-year-old card game designed by Richard Garfield introduced the world to the concept of the trading card game itself: a game where players would collect individual game pieces and craft a deck that represented spells they would cast and creatures they would summon. It was a wild new form of player expression that greatly impacted the world of tabletop gaming for all time. Magic: The Gathering also told players a story--a narrative of powerful wizards known as Planeswalkers that would traverse multiple universes and duel with other powerful wizards in search of power and glory. So it would make sense that one day, Magic: The Gathering would come to video games. While the game’s digital client Magic: The Gathering - Arena is the premier way to electronically play the game nowadays, there’s a title from Magic’s early years that’s influence is being felt to this very day. Released in 1997 for personal computers and developed by Microprose, the eponymously named Magic: The Gathering sought to capture the excitement of the tabletop game to players all across the digital realm. Coming off the heels of an unprofitable era for the company, the developers sought the challenge of adapting the increasingly complex game into a single-player role-playing game. You read that right. Magic: The Gathering’s first video game was a single-player RPG. Magic: The Gathering followed the story of the Planeswalker (the player-character) travelling to the plane of Shandalar to save it from a great and powerful evil. The plane is invaded by five mage lords who are using their combined power to cast the “Spell of Dominion” that will allow them to summon the demon lord Arzakon, who is a Planeswalker himself. Microprose adapted aspects of the paper game in interesting ways. For example, Magic: The Gathering is often represented by colors that correspond to the game’s resource systems and playstyles. These colors are represented in-game by each of the evil mage lords: White, Black, Blue, Red, and Green. The player will choose one of these colors for their starting spell book, and traverse the overworld in search of more powerful spells to add to their knowledge in hopes of attaining enough power to stop the Spell of Dominion.  Magic: The Gathering (1997) While exploring the overworld, players will take on quests and visit towns. These quests will often task the Planeswalker with obtaining a specific powerful card or defeating an enemy. All battles in Shandalar are done using Magic’s robust gameplay rule system, and allows players to hone their card playing skills and decide what works and what doesn’t in their decks. In addition to quests, players can also encounter difficult dungeons that offer the iconic “Power-9” as rewards for completion. To this day, these cards are some of the most powerful cards ever printed and are a priceless tool in player’s arsenals. When the Planewalker is finally successful in defeating the mage lords, they learn that they’re too late, as Arzakon has been successfully summoned to Shandalar for a climatic final battle. Arzakon provides the greatest challenge in the game as he has the highest life total, the most powerful spells in the game, and access to all five colors of Magic. Though the Planeswalker is unable to fully defeat Arzakon, they are successful in sealing him away for a set number of years, depending on how much damage they are able to land in the final battle. In the real world, this damage is also used to calculate the player’s final score. Magic: The Gathering for PC was a critical and financial success for Microprose and received long-term support. Spells of the Ancients was the first expansion and improved on the game’s engine and UI and added cards from the Magic: The Gathering sets Arabian Nights and Antiquities that vastly improved its cardpool. This was eventually followed up with another expansion called Duel of the Planeswalkers that added cards from the sets Legends and The Dark.  The game’s life didn’t end there, though. For many years, the game has been modded to add more and more cards from modern sets. These modded versions of the game, often nicknamed “Shandalar,” introduce modern mechanics and designs into the single-player RPG framework that Microprose built all the way back in 1997. The game was also one of the first acting roles for Rhea Seehorn, now known for the critically acclaimed show Plurbius. She plays one of the tutorial mages in the game’s fantastically retro FMV cutscenes. The game can also be seen as an influence on CD Projekt Red’s Thronebreaker, a spin-off of The Witcher that used the in-universe card game Gwent as the foundation for its gameplay and combat while using a similar single-player RPG framework. Magic: The Gathering (1997) But perhaps Shandalar’s greatest tribute now comes in the form of an actual playable Magic: The Gathering card. Arzakon will be depicted on a card in the upcoming Mystery Booster: Commander set. A five-color Planeswalker card, players can use his abilities to either deal three damage to any target--like the iconic card Lightning Bolt--create a Black Lotus token that they can sacrifice for three mana of any one color, or force all players to shuffle their hands and graveyards into their decks like the powerful Timetwister. Arzakon is also one of the few Planewalkers that players will be able to use as their commander in Magic’s most popular format. Shandalar was Magic’s first foray into the digital space and laid the groundwork for telling deeper stories using the ruleset that was created in 1993. It proved there was an appetite to play the game on screens and not just tables. It laid the foundation for later titles such as Magic Online and even Arena while also being kept alive and updated by a dedicated fanbase. With Mystery Booster: Commander, it's a wonderful moment to allow players to reflect on a small but important part of this wonderful game.

Can the Steam Machine truly become my all in one solution for gaming?

Otome has a long history, as vibrant and complex as any other video game subgenre. For decades, most of that history has been obscured in North America. The good news is now is the best possible time to get into Otome. The massive success of Love and Deepspace has more than proven that there is a huge audience for games focused on romances with men, and more of these games get translated (and made in English) than ever before. And, should you get interested in retro offerings, there are now fan translations aplenty, making it significantly easier to play through many of the genre's best offerings. For the purposes of this list though, we'll focus on games that are commercially available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and/or mobile with official English translations. If Love and Deepspace’s controversies have turned you off, or you just want to get away from its microtransactions, this list will give you plenty of alternatives to choose from. Mystic Messenger You could describe this as the original Love In Deepspace, in that it borrows an Otome structure and packages it into a free-to-play mobile game. But where Love in Deepspace is a sci-fi epic with a massive budget, Mystic Messenger is a charmingly low-rent game focused around texting. The game operates in real-time, which means it can slot into your regular phone use and might be a bit less of a concentrated time-sink than the other Otome games on this list. In fact, Mystic Messenger is designed around a phone's unique properties and assets. It's cutesy, joyful, and intimate in the way only texting a crush can be. Taisho X Alice As you might guess from the title, Taisho X Alice is an Alice in Wonderland riff, but the population of its looking-glass world are a bevy of gender-swapped princes, like Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, who vie for your affections. But don't let its lush art fool you. This is also one of a few Otome on this list that trade in darker themes. If you are looking for something with all the bittersweet edge of a fairy tale, Taisho X Alice is preparing a tea party just for you. Even If Tempest Look, Otome is full of nice boys. There's nothing wrong with that. But what if you want something darker, edgier, more complex? Chilled black coffee, instead of a sugary sweet latte? Even If Tempest opens with its protagonist burned at the stake and dives further into witch trials and criminal investigations. Its romantic interests are princes and inquisitors, people with relentless power over the protagonist, and some of them prove to be monstrous in more literal ways. It's an Otome with real edge and an ornate, gothic vibe to match. Collar X Malice Speaking of mysteries, Collar X Malice drops the Otome into a supernatural police procedural. After being attacked and chained with a poison collar, the protagonist becomes embroiled with a group of ex-police officers trying to solve related cases. Romance does take a back seat here, but if you enjoy visual novels like Dangonronpa, Ace Attorney, or Of The Devil, and wish those games were way more focused on interacting with cutie anime boys, Collar X Malice may be just the ticket. Variable Barricade With a premise befitting musical theater and romance novel alike, Variable Barricade is one of the sillier entries on this list. Protagonist Hibari is the lone heir of a massive fortune, but her grandfather wants her to get married and so moves her into a luxurious mansion with four eligible bachelors. The game-show-like theming and bright, cartoonish art gives this the feel of a zany romantic comedy. Obscura I wanted to include at least one English Otome, a subgenre worthy of its own dedicated attention. Otome-inspired games developed in North America or Europe tend to soften Otome's genre conventions. For example, while every one of Obscura's romantic interests is masculine, you can select the protagonist's gender at the start. But the game's interests are clearly aligned with several others on this list. Obscura is set in a black market, where masked visitors trade and sell what cannot be bought anywhere else. Obscura's men all have interests of their own and navigating their desires, as well as yours, is where the game's drama is. With every mask comes an ulterior motive. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Hakuoki is an example of historical fiction Otome, set in Kyoto during the waning days of the Edo era. This is an expansive one, with 12 bachelors to court and 30 endings, which fits its monumental historical scale. Any direct comparison to novels or film is a little reductive. However, if you like your romance to be grand and convoluted, full of political intrigue and sword fights, a la Outlander, Hakuoki will more than fit the bill. If you still can't get enough, this one has a sequel, Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms. Cafe Enchante This list has tended a little darker, emphasizing the genre's forays into mystery and drama. But there's plenty of cozy escapism in Otome, too. Cafe Enchante follows, well, a mystical cafe that is a crossroads between worlds. You can court angels, demons, firebenders, and even the Men-In-Black-esque bureaucrats who monitor the cafe, all while serving up delicious looking coffee and food. If you've enjoyed visual novels like Coffee Talk or VA-11 Hall-A, or cozy games like Stardew Valley or Tiny Bookshop, this could be right up your alley. Bustafellows Like Collar X Malice, Bustafellows is mystery-flavored Otome, with a bevy of "dangerous" men all trying to solve a mystery together. But where Collar has a hard criminal edge, Bustafellows is noirish and exaggerated. The courtable boys include a crooked lawyer, two underground surgeons, and a hacker--the cream of the crop of the criminal underworld. The protagonist's supernatural powers give its otherwise grounded mystery a fun, time-traveling flair. Bustafellows has two follow-ups; one is already out and another is on the way. Jack Jeanne If there is any game on this list I would recommend to anyone, regardless of their personal interest in visual novels or Otome, Jack Jeanne would be it. It follows Kisa Tachibana, whose only dream is to enter the all-boys theater school Univeil. A chance encounter with the school's principal lets her dream come true, but only if she can keep her true gender a secret and win the school's highest performing honor at the end of the year. Jack Jeanne stands out for a few reasons. For one, Jack Jeanne's boys make up a robust ensemble cast, all of whom must work together to put on the game's many performances. This gives it the sometimes-buoyant, sometimes-heartbreaking energy of the best sports anime. The art, from Tokyo Ghoul creator Sui Ishida, is verdant and cutting. Some light "raising" mechanics a la Umamusume or Princess Simulator and a surprisingly sharp pair of rhythm minigames round out a robust and heartfelt visual novel.

When Sony dropped the announcement that it was going to be ending physical disc production for PlayStation 5 in early 2028, I saw many posts on social media lamenting how this decision would have an outsized impact on certain groups and institutions. People without reliable internet, lending libraries, gaming tournament organizers, gamers in developing countries--how would the decision to move to download-only games affect these people? I reached out to several folks, some of whom I knew while others I'd yet to meet, to ask them all the same question: How do you expect physical discs going away will affect gaming in your particular region or walk of life? While I'd expected to hear many lamentations and concerns, the actual responses were surprising. If anything, the reactions seemed very mixed. Some had already anticipated the digital-only shift, some were, expectedly, annoyed, and others brought up factors and considerations that I wasn't even aware of.  One of the most obvious areas of concern is access to games for people who live in rural areas with spotty local internet access. With game sizes ballooning, how are they supposed to download games reliably? Slow internet, but fast to adapt? I asked gamer Shana Gardner, who is located in a rural area of Wisconsin, for her input. She said she had already switched to digital-only purchases upon getting a PlayStation 5.  "I don't have much storage space for physical media and don't trade in games, so it made sense for me to switch to downloads," she said.  However, the choice came with some downsides.  "I have bought games that take multiple days to download over [a] DSL [internet connection], or preordered games with an early-download perk just so I could still possibly play on day one. I have spent evenings kicking everything else off the internet so I could download the bulk of a game overnight to minimize impact on my other online activities the next day." What does she feel about the plight of other gamers in rural areas with physical discs?  "I don't think that discontinuing physical media will necessarily disproportionately affect rural gamers; with the advent of services like Starlink, many of them have options for speeds greater than the 15Kbps I've lived with for way too long," Gardner said. "Patches already provide their own challenges with downloading, as do games that don't have physical media releases (though the latter are thankfully not prone to being enormous). We've already struggled with laggy online multiplayer games for years. Removing physical media entirely raises more concerns for me with the lack of ownership than it does internet speeds." "Honestly, though, with enormous patches and DLC being increasingly common, even buying physical media isn't much of an advantage as far as accessibility goes." The hidden burden of library game collections Another big concern for some is how the lack of physical discs would affect public libraries. Much like other media such as movies and music, certain library systems also loan video games to patrons. Whether a library offers games varies widely depending on the city or county where it's located: My county's library system, the Multnomah County Library, doesn't offer video games for loan at all, while the nearby City of West Linn does. I was surprised to learn that, alongside many libraries simply not handling games at all, many have already been scaling back their game offerings. Games are expensive compared to books and movies, and compared to other media, they're more commonly "lost" by borrowers, leading libraries to cut down on their purchases. Some libraries have observed dwindling popularity of game checkouts when compared to kids simply using the library's PCs and tablets to play games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox. One person I asked about the situation was Colleen Kemps, who worked and volunteered at the libraries in Meridian, Idaho. She said that games were often theft targets, and also mentioned that most games were checked out by parents rather than the kids themselves.  "Most teens and adults did not check out games because the library was slow to buy the newest games," she pointed out. "Games only served a small section of the community," she continued. "Compared to DVDs and audio books, we had much less invested in games. Also, because of the various number of newer gaming systems that were constantly being released, the older games were outdated very quickly. The expense of buying new games wasn’t cost-effective for a limited (library) budget." Overall, the feeling I got was that, while being able to check out physical games at the library is a great and cost-effective way for players to enjoy various titles, they also put a big burden on the systems through their high costs. Many library workers I spoke to who handled games wouldn't mind if their libraries pared down physical video game collections, since many children and teens seemed to prefer playing online games at the library anyway.  The global reality of going digital Video games are a global hobby, but the gaming experience for those in developing nations is significantly different from those in North America. Many countries don't even have their own official PlayStation Store--they rely instead on making accounts assigned to other territories and using credit to purchase games digitally. So, how would discontinuing physical games affect gaming in those territories? "I think that it will basically kill any gaming-specific shops, like BTgames (a well-known South African specialty retailer)," an avid gamer from South Africa, who opted not to have their name published, told me. "Considering the limited spending power here, casual gamers will be pissed they can't swap games or trade them in for credit, while hardcore gamers will be concerned that they don't really own the game," he said. "I wonder if people here, particularly in lower LSMs (Living Standards Measure, a South African research term similar to the concept of socioeconomic class), actually rely on the used games market to get into gaming because they can't necessarily afford new systems or games. Even in my LSM, I look for used games and heavy discounts." "I think most local gamers here are used to the always online mentality and the need to download updates," he continued. "I don't think there are tons of console gamers without at least decent internet connections." Another gamer and business owner in Ghana, also unnamed, shared their perspective.  "There's actually a growing e-gaming industry, so I don't know if digital games and connectivity are as big a deal as they used to be.Secondhand games aren't really a thing because here, [and] lots of people pirate games. You're more likely to get a free hand-me-down than have to buy a discount title. Also, you can pirate a disc for about $15 or pay someone to install them on your console for a similar price, instead of getting the full-priced version. Loads of pirated discs are on the market." It might seem, then, that going strictly digital might be a way for Sony to combat piracy in these markets, but that might not be the case, either.  "With digital games, (the pirates) basically log on with their accounts, download and install your requested games onto your console, and switch accounts again. All it costs them is the internet bandwidth," they said. One Kenyan fan, a public relations manager, seemed more concerned about the future of gaming accessibility in their country.  "From a Kenyan perspective, I think a move to all-digital could make PlayStation gaming less accessible for a lot of people," he said. "There is definitely a secondhand market here, not just for consoles but also for physical game discs. Many gamers buy used PlayStations and then exchange or resell games once they're done. For a lot of people, that's the only affordable way to keep playing new titles." He seemed a bit less concerned about internet availability, however. "On connectivity, it's a bit of a mixed picture. In Nairobi and other major towns, internet connectivity is generally good, with fibre and 4G/5G widely available. The bigger issue is the cost of downloading games. Modern AAA titles can easily be 80-150GB, and not everyone has an unlimited home fiber connection. Large downloads can still be expensive, especially outside major urban areas." "The affordability aspect is probably the biggest factor," he continued. "Buying a physical disc gives you something you can lend, sell, or trade. If everything becomes digital, you're locked into the PlayStation Store and its pricing, which removes the secondhand economy that many Kenyan gamers rely on. Digital gaming is definitely growing among wealthier gamers who own the latest consoles, have reliable home internet, and can buy games online using international payment methods. "Console gaming itself is still relatively niche in Kenya compared to mobile gaming, (and) tend to be concentrated in urban centers, and many people first experience PlayStation through gaming cafés rather than owning a console. Those cafés also often rely on physical discs or shared game libraries, so a fully digital future could change how they operate as well. "Overall, I think an all-digital strategy makes sense in markets where broadband is cheap and disposable income is high," he concluded. "In Kenya, affordability and the ability to buy, share and resell physical games remain important parts of the gaming ecosystem." Are fighting game players KO'd? As a fighting game player, being able to go to local and regional meetups and tournaments is very important. Many of these events are run by individuals or groups of local tournament operators (“TOs”) who volunteer their consoles to be used during the events. This often requires having many copies of games to run. After seeing some speculation online that gaming tournaments could be hurt by the digital-only mandate, I wondered, does not having discs as an option make running tournaments harder? In truth: not really.  Tabby is a frequent TO and event volunteer who helps run the Just Block tournament series for the Pacific Northwest fighting game community. She said that discs going away  wasn't a big deal at all.  "Discs are an extra thing to be misplaced or stolen at events, and don't actually allow you to run the game on more consoles than current digital offerings," she said.  Discs can also be one more thing to worry about during event setup and teardown. "(Games going digital) currently doesn't affect most TOs, especially as you scale up," she continued. "The only thing that will affect them greatly is if Sony breaks the workarounds people use for consoles having multiple shared accounts."  She described a method she uses to boot the same digital copy of the game on two separate consoles for offline play--a critical workaround for multiple setups and a lifesaver for budget-conscious TOs who often have to run events out of pocket. There currently isn't a program for small-scale or local tournament operators to buy multiple digital game licenses at a discount. Digital games do need to "phone home" every so often by connecting to the internet to verify their licenses, but Tabby said that isn't generally an issue for TOs, either. "(Previously) there was a pretty long window … you could get away with (being offline) for months, but I think they just changed it so that purchases need to be connected to the internet every 30 days to check licenses. For your average local TO running monthly events, it shouldn't be an issue." So will the end of physical PlayStation discs completely disrupt certain gaming communities? Going from these responses, the answer seems to be "not really," but this is a very small look at a very large topic. Regardless, it seem as though many have started to begrudgingly embrace an all-digital future, even if it's inconvenient for them. Others are finding ways to get around some of the restrictions the digital DRM imposes on them, or even just turning to outright piracy. Some expressed a bit of relief of not having to worry about discs being lost or stolen anymore. But, notably, not even the people who found discs a hassle seemed keen on the decision to kill consumer choice. Even if this decision doesn't lead to friction between gamers and actually playing their games, it still reflects concerning views on ownership. Digital media feels impermanent, no matter how it's consumed, since it can be snatched away at a whim. And as convenient and profitable as digital media may be--and no matter how much companies push global consumers in that direction--the satisfaction of owning something tangible is something that cannot be replaced.

During the latest investment call for Grand Theft Auto 6's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, CEO Strauss Zelnick weighed in on the future of AI in game development. While Zelnick acknowledges that even his company will utilize AI, he reiterated his belief that the emerging technology won't replace anyone. "Those [AI] tools are not going to replace anyone," said Zelnick. He also expanded on the company's approach, which he characterized as focusing on creating entertainment rather leading with technology. "The first of our core pillars is creativity," noted Zelnick. "And we have 13,000 colleagues around the world, the vast majority of whom are people who are creative every day. We believe the technology can enhance their creativity, but we do not believe it can or should replace their creativity." Zelnick added that he doesn't believe that using AI will significantly lower the price of development, but he argued that it could "meaningfully increase the quality" of the games. The CEO has made similar remarks in the past. During a 2025 investor call, Zelnick said that Take-Two won't use AI as an excuse to lay off its employees. In addition to his latest AI missives, Zelnick assured Take-Two investors that GTA 6 hasn't been delayed from its launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, Unsurprisingly, Zelnick is predicting that GTA 6 will carry the company through a very profitable fiscal year. He also claimed that GTA 6 preorders are "unprecedented," and it may be the most in-demand game that the industry has ever seen.

Since the Not-E3 blitz of summer gaming showcases, things have been relatively quiet since then. Amidst that break, THQ Nordic dropped a new showcase full of trailers to show what the publisher has on the way from its various studios. While it wasn't focused on big-name games like the ones you'd find in dedicated Xbox and PlayStation showcases, THQ Nordic instead has titles in very specific niche genres and IP. https://youtu.be/ToLh5Ruefxk Several of them are already available via early access or are already out and have post-launch plans in place, so if you're a fan of games that scratch a very specific itch for interactive entertainment, then you'll want to check out the list below of all the announcements. Let's Sing 2027 and Let’s Sing ABBA Revealed in the preshow, Let's Sing 2027 is shaping up to conquer the karaoke video game space. This year's installment features 35 songs from artists such as Ariana Grande and Chappell Roan, and you can join in on singing radio-friendly love songs with or without the original vocals. On top of that, an ABBA pack is also coming to the game on November 3, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Dancing Queen. It includes 32 tracks that your great-grandparents will appreciate, from Waterloo to Mamma Mia. Don't be surprised if they tell you to "gimme gimme gimme" the microphone, Fernando. Pinball FX Another preshow video, Zen Studios showed off its collection of Pinball FX tables that it has assembled over the years. The studio has locked down an impressive number of IP for the game, ranging from Peanuts to Star Wars, and if you're looking for some pinball fun, you can find the game on just about every PC and console. Reanimal: The Prisoner New DLC is on the way for Reanimal in the form of The Prisoner. While it sadly isn't a crossover with the groovy counter-culture '60s TV show that starred Patrick McGoohan, fans of the Little Nightmares-inspired game can look forward to new environmental puzzles and challenges set within a battle-scarred landscape. You can grab it right now. Expeditions: Samurai Developer Campfire Cabal dropped a new trailer for Expeditions: Samurai, its upcoming tactical turn-based-combat game set in feudal Japan. Now out in early access on PC, the developer says that the game will receive three major updates while it works on fine-tuning the experience for players, and it'll be focusing on polishing gameplay balance, exploration, stealth, combat, and more. Titan Quest 2 Now that The Odyssey is the hot new thing in cinemas, it might be the perfect time to check out how the Greek-inspired ARPG Titan Quest 2 is shaping up. Still in early access, today's trailer for the game showed off gameplay for the new Spirit Mastery skills that players can wield in combat. Built around mastering the powers of the Underworld, these powers will allow you to manipulate the forces of life and death to summon spirits and cast spells. Call to Arms: Panzer Elite World of Tanks doesn't have a monopoly on armored fighting vehicles, as Call to Arms: Panzer Elite also offers a pretty good spin on the lumbering war machines. A new update is now out for the game on PC, adding two new missions and two new tanks in the form of the M18 Hellcat and the M24 Chaffee.  Way of the Hunter 2 Oh deer, local wildlife has no idea what's in store for it when Way of the Hunter 2 launches on September 29 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Eternal Life of Goldman The Eternal Life of Goldman continues to look impressive with every new trailer, and this latest look at the game went behind the scenes of its beautiful handcrafted art, boss fights, and level design. It still doesn't have a release date, but The Eternal Life of Goldman is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The Guild: Europa 1410 Do you think that you have what it takes to keep the local peasants under control and establish a mighty kingdom during medieval times? Then you'll want to check out The Guild: Europa 1410 and see just how long your dynasty will last while you juggle your responsibilities as a noble in this feudal management game. You can choose to make your fortune through legitimate means or through some less-than-legal methods, and the game will be hitting early access in September. Wreckfest 2 Wreckfest 2 has grown throughout its early-access journey, and this new trailer was essentially a sizzle reel for the destruction derby racing game. Gothic 1 Remake Gothic 1 Remake launched earlier this year, and developer Alkimia Interactive outlined its post-launch plans for the game. This will include various updates and new features like photo mode, mod support, alternative progression, and more. Gothic Classic Trilogy In case that's not enough Gothic for you, then you can look forward to playing through the original trilogy of games on console soon. Gothic Classic is now available, Gothic 2: Complete Classic launches on September 29, and Gothic 3 Classic will launch on November 24.   Gothic Boardgame Rounding out the Gothic announcements was the reveal of Gothic Boardgame, which will launch through the tabletop crowdfunding platform Gamefound on September 30. Upcoming Games on Nintendo Switch compilation Finishing up the livestream was a quick reminder that several THQ Nordic games like Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Sacred 2 Remaster, SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, and the Destroy All Humans 2 Remakes are available for--or coming to--Switch consoles.