Gaming – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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The Verge’s gaming section brings the latest video game news, reviews of the most exciting releases, and interviews with the industry’s biggest names. We cover everything from PlayStation and Xbox blockbusters, to quirky Nintendo games, to the cool indie gems on PC and Android that you might otherwise miss.

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Corsair’s PC case with a panoramic glass design is $70 off

This discounted case sports a beautiful panoramic window and plenty of flexibility with your build.

Brad Bourque
Amazon puts Luna cloud-streamed games like Fallout 4 inside Prime Video

Now Prime Video has a games section, with Amazon’s cloud gaming platform Luna built in to let you start playing right away.

Stevie Bonifield

Latest In Gaming

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Tomb Raider: Catalyst pushed to 2028.

Amazon’s games head Jeffrey Gattis confirmed to The Game Business that the title won’t arrive in 2027 as originally expected.

When commenting on the pair of upcoming Tomb Raider titles, Gattis highlighted Legacy of Atlantis’s February 12th launch date, but noted that the company will “follow on in 2028” with Catalyst.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Xbox gamer Strive4G8ness23 signs a two-year, $8 million deal with the 76ers.

How could anyone have known that LeBron James would choose Philadelphia as his next NBA team? Well, there were signs.

Screenshots of tweets from LeBron playing madden against a Philadelphia 76ers / Eagles fan in 2024.
Screenshots: @kingjames . @MarcAnthonyRo15 (X)
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Are Xbox 360 games coming to PC next?

After Microsoft brought four original Xbox games to PC earlier this week, a reverse engineer found that the company is powering them with Xenon Fusion — the same emulator that enabled backward compatibility on the Xbox 360. This might be laying the groundwork for Xbox 360 games on PC, as the XWine1 account on X figured out how to get some 360 titles running with “varying degrees of success.”

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
A game where you repair and restore retro gadgets sounds like the perfect way to unwind.

In ReStory you’re tasked with growing your “quaint electronics repair shop in mid-2000s Tokyo” by dismantling, repairing, cleaning, and restoring devices like cellphones, consoles, and cameras. Developed by Mandragora Studio the game launches on Steam on August 6th

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Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Turtle Beach’s new Xbox flight stick puts a full color screen under your thumb.

The new $149.99 VelocityOne Flightstick II upgrades the original with a new full color screen at the top of the joystick, 38 mappable inputs, and Hall effect sensors. It’s joined by the $149.99 VelocityOne Dual Throttle featuring two levers with adjustable tension, 35 programmable inputs, and an LED throttle indicator.

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The Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick II and Dual Throttle controllers sitting side-by-side with a simulated cloudy backdrop.
The VelocityOne Flightstick II and VelocityOne Dual Throttle can be purchased together with a slight discount as the Turtle Beach VelocityOne H.O.T.A.S. bundle for $279.99.
Image: Turtle Beach
Meredith Haggerty
Meredith Haggerty
Merriam-Webster tags in.

The internet’s favorite dictionary just dropped a new word game, Tagline — and, surprisingly, there’s not a definition in sight. The game consists of three increasingly difficult clues with hangman-style answers to guess. The twist is that all the solutions are made up entirely from the same seven letters.

The new Halo remake is a reminder of what Xbox used to be

Halo: Campaign Evolved is excellent, but it’s launching at a very awkward time.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
Splat!

That’s the sound of the Splatoon series exploring a new genre with Splatoon Raiders, which is Nintendo’s take on looter shooters. I quite enjoyed my time with the game, but you can check it out for yourself now, as it launches today on the Switch 2.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Amazon leaked a buildable Halo Warthog from Mattel, not Lego.

Mattel’s older Mega line of building sets included a couple of Halo sets featuring the Warthog, but Amazon Australia leaked a larger and more detailed 935-piece buildable UNSC M12 Warthog that’s part of Mattel’s recent Brick Shop line. There’s no pricing, but the model includes working independent suspension and customizable detailing.

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1/3Image: Mattel
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Bethesda’s union claims laid off employees were told they’d have jobs until September.

The OneBGS union said in a post that Bethesda laid off some of its Canadian employees on July 17th, weeks sooner than employees were warned the layoffs would happen, PC Gamer reports. That same day, Bethesda announced it’s working on Fallout 5.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Valve made it easier to find games on your Steam wishlist.

As GamesRadar+ reports, you can now create custom categories for your wishlist, like “buy when on sale,” which could make organization easier for those of us with giant Steam wishlists (myself included). You can filter your wishlist by category and set custom notifications for specific categories.

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A screenshot of the custom categories editor in a Steam wishlist
Image: Valve
Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
It’s now easier to gift Steam games, even if you don’t have an account.

Valve has made improvements to its gifting processes in Steam, particularly for guest shoppers without an account. You can buy games, not just gift cards or hardware. You can also gift games to an email address, even if it’s not associated with the giftee’s account. Easier cross-region gifting, too. Good stuff.

Note the “Enter email” section that has been added. You don’t need to know the recipient’s Steam account, or have them added as a friend.
Note the “Enter email” section that has been added. You don’t need to know the recipient’s Steam account, or have them added as a friend.
Image: Valve
Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
That’s the good stuff.

The colorful platformer Poinpy, which comes from the developer behind Downwell, was one of the titles that Netflix cut loose when it moved on from indie games. But now it has been resurrected with a new version for both iOS and Android that’s not only free, but available right now.

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Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Meta’s Horizon Plus subscription now includes the Xbox Game Pass starter edition.

As Microsoft continues its Xbox “reset,” the pared-down Game Pass bundle that arrived recently as a benefit for Discord Nitro is now also included in the 7.99 monthly / $59.99 annually Quest subscription. The starter edition also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming access to try some of the 50-plus games it unlocks before downloading them.

Meta also said that soon its Meta Quest Touch controllers will be able to emulate the Xbox gamepad, although anyone who has a real Xbox pad can just pair that to their headset immediately.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Anbernic refreshed and slimmed its Game Boy Advance SP.

Last year’s RG34XXSP added a pair of thumbsticks but Anbernic’s new RG SP looks like an update to 2024’s RG35XXSP that more closely matched the GBA SP. The new model has a “refined tactile button feel,” a smaller screen bezel, and a body that’s about 10 percent thinner

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
MSI’s special-edition dragon laptop costs nearly $7,000.

The Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic marks MSI’s 40th anniversary by maxing out the already-pricey Titan with a flashy dragon design, 96GB of DDR5 RAM, an Nvidia RTX 5090, and an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus. At least the $6,999 price tag also includes a bundled copy of LEGO Batman.

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A photo of the MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic with lid closed
A photo of the MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic with lid open
A photo of the keyboard deck on the MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic
1/3Image: MSI
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
This gaming mouse is equipped with a teeny Noctua fan.

The Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition is made in collaboration with peripheral maker Pulsar Gaming Gears, and like other fan-equipped mice, is designed to cool sweaty palms during intense gaming sessions. It’s available starting today for $179.95, providing customizable fan speeds and a 8,000Hz polling rate.

The Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition mouse besides a Noctua fan.
His palms are sweaty, team’s weak, ping is heavy.
Image: Pulsar Gaming Gears
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Ayaneo’s Next 2 handheld got a $1,000 price hike.

PC Gamer spotted a listing for the Next 2 on Ayaneo’s website with a top configuration priced at $5,299. The same configuration, with 128GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, was already pricey at $4,299 earlier this year, before Ayaneo suspended preorders, saying the handheld was “unsustainable” due to skyrocketing RAM costs.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Turn Valve’s Steam Machine into a Companion Cube with your 3D printer.

Dbrand’s Companion Cube case is not going to happen, but you can 3D print a detailed replica of it for your Steam Machine using files shared by Printables user Jaron. A multicolor printer will make the process much easier, and they’ve shared a list of all the additional parts you’ll need like screws and magnets to assemble it.

Valve’s Steam Machine inside a 3D-printed case that looks like a Companion Cube from Portal.
Image: Printables
The future of physical games is not looking great

Players and game preservationists might need to prepare for a world without discs.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
ZA/UM is laying off staff.

“Up to” 32 staffers have been served redundancy or at-risk notices, ZA/UM says. The studio has been the subject of a lot of controversy following the launch of Disco Elysium, and it released a new game this year, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. However, the Zero Parades’ “commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size.“

A message from ZA/UM about layoffs. It reads: Today, we are sharing difficult news. While ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies was released to critical acclaim, its commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size. We have served redundancy or at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues across all departments at ZA/UM Studio. Their work has made a lasting difference and left its mark on ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies, and the studio as a whole. Throughout this difficult process, we have continued to consult and work with representatives of the ZA/UM Workers’ Alliance. This changes the shape of ZA/UM, but not its purpose. Our artistic standards remain unchanged: we will persist. To anyone currently hiring, please consider the colleagues leaving ZA/UM.
Image: ZA/UM
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
To GameStop, discs dying “doesn’t matter,” says CEO.

Software makes up “less than 12 percent of the business,” while collectibles are “over half,” Ryan Cohen said in a Bloomberg interview. “So it’s totally, totally irrelevant.”

The numbers differ a bit in GameStop’s latest quarterly report, where collectibles were 41.8 percent of sales in Q1 2026. But they’re a growing part of GameStop’s business — the Q1 collectibles figure was a jump from 28.9 percent in Q1 2025 — which could soften the blow from the dire future for discs.

Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
Marathon’s game director is passing the baton.

Bungie’s online extraction shooter, Marathon, is having a leadership change as game director Joe Ziegler announced on X that today is his final day with the company. Ziegler, former game director of Valorant, took on the role following former Marathon director Chris Barrett’s firing in August 2024.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
It’s Ayaneo’s turn to resurrect and upgrade the Game Boy Advance.

Following the release of Anbernic’s RG34XX handheld last December, Ayaneo has revealed its own updated take on Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. The company didn’t share any specs for its upcoming Konkr Pocket Advance, but like Anbernic’s it will include four action buttons and potentially rely on emulation instead of a cartridge slot.

The Ayaneo Konkr Pocket Advance cartridge in orange on a desk surrounded by other retro electronics.
Image: Ayaneo
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The Game of Thrones RTS has been delayed.

Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, announced last year for a 2026 release, is now set to launch in early 2027.

“We remain unwavering in our mission to deliver a real-time strategy game set in the world of Westeros that meets the expectations of both RTS players and Game of Thrones fans,” says developer PlaySide. “This decision gives us the time needed to continue building towards that goal and ensure that the game reaches the high level of quality we are aiming for.”

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Jay Peters
Jay Peters
“You know who isn’t the hero? The killer of physical.”

PlayStation uploaded new trailers for Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls today, but the comment sections are pretty much all about PlayStation’s plan to kill discs. And this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon.

A screenshot of YouTube comments on a Marvel’s Wolverine trailer.
A screenshot of YouTube comments on a Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls trailer.
1/2Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge