Gigabyte, the world's leading computer brand, announced its AORUS ELITE Series monitor lineup, bringing together next-generation Tandem OLED technology and the world's first 5K Multi Mode Mini LED glossy gaming monitor across 27 to 32-inch models. The new series combines premium visual quality, exclusive Tactical Features, and intelligent panel protection to cater to a wide range of performance and productivity needs.

Leading the lineup is the world's first 27-inch 5K Mini LED glossy gaming monitor, delivering Retina-level 218 PPI clarity, backed by 2,304-zone local dimming for precise contrast control. Multi-Mode support enables seamless switching across 5K 165 Hz, 4K 220 Hz and QHD 330 Hz, adapting to both sharper visuals and ultra-smooth gameplay. The AORUS ELITE OLED Series advances panel technology with fourth-generation Tandem OLED and RealBlack Glossy surface, reaching HDR peak brightness up to 1,500 nits. The FO32U24GP pushes the experience further with Dual Mode and DP 2.1 UHBR20 delivering up to 80 Gbps full-bandwidth connectivity, while FO27Q28G completes the lineup for a broader range of configurations.

MSI showcased at Computex 2026 its latest version of Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld. The device is built around Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme processors that are designed exactly for gaming handhelds. The Arc G3 series is based on Intel Panther Lake architecture combining CPU and GPU in a power-efficient package. The Arc G3 Extreme processor features a 2P+8E+4LPE core configuration using Intel's latest Coyote Cove performance cores and Darkmont efficiency cores. Graphics are handled by a Xe3 "Celestial" iGPU with 12 Xe cores, while CPU boost frequencies reach up to 4.7 GHz. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld looks and specifications confirm recent rumors and leaks, which we previously reported on.

The Claw 8 EX AI+ pairs the new Intel processor with a 9-inch IPS-level touchscreen display offering a 1920×1200 resolution, 48-120 Hz variable refresh rate support, 100% sRGB coverage, and up to 500 nits of brightness. MSI has also equipped the handheld with Hall-effect joysticks and triggers, a redesigned vibration motor for more detailed haptic feedback, and an 80 Wh battery. Cooling is handled by the Cooler Boost HyperFlow system featuring dual fans, dual heat pipes and an intraflow thermal design. Connectivity includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports supporting up to 40 Gbps transfer speeds. The handheld also comes with up to 32 GB of onboard LPDDR5X memory and a single M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slot. Additional features include dual 2 W speakers with TD Audio processing and Hi-Res Audio support, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The device weighs 785 g.

Following the recent announcement that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 would be getting a remake for console and PC in October 2026, Infinity Ward, the studio behind the remake, took to social media to reveal that "Every aspect of Modern Warfare 4 is anchored in the game's narrative," and that "every feature, every decision needs to feel authentic to what Modern Warfare is, and that includes cosmetics and collabs." The studio then went on to ask for player feedback regarding what they wanted to see in the new game, and many of the replies from gamers in the ensuing X thread had to do with cosmetics and skins, with some asking for filters to enable and disable skins and collaboration filters and others pleading with the studio to forego such collaborations entirely.

Shortly after the original post asking for community feedback, two separate official Call of Duty accounts confirmed that there would be no cosmetic collaborations that might ruin the game's immersion or conflict with the overall aesthetic. The Call of Duty Community Management (CallofDutyCM on X) account said, in response to someone challenging the original feedback post: "No Lady Gaga. No Omni-Man. No Teletubbies. No SpongeBob. Keep the receipts." Meanwhile, the official Call of Duty account responded to similar criticism with: "We got the feedback. No BS. This is all about staying true to Modern Warfare. No clowny skins for launch and seasons beyond." Fans are seemingly still sceptical, with many comments implying that the financial pressure of such collaborations would eventually see those skins return to the game, despite reassurances that these skins would not be included in the game at launch or in later seasons.

Following the announcement of the end of Destiny 2's development in May, it was revealed in leaks that no Destiny 2 sequel has been green-lit, despite multiple pitches from Bungie staff, with most of Destiny 2's development team apparently either slated for layoffs following the June 9 decommissioning of the game. In response to the recent reports, Destiny fans have banded together behind a Change.org petition urging Sony Interactive Entertainment, Bungie's parent company, to develop Destiny 3.

At the time of writing, the Destiny 3 petition has garnered 317,500 signatures, with the petition's creators stating that "The desire for new adventures, fresh storylines, and innovative gameplay features is palpable among players everywhere." It's not just gamers who have expressed their disappointment in the end of Destiny 2's development, with Rebecca Ford, creative director of Warframe, a game often compared to Destiny, commenting that Destiny was, to her "the only lasting pillar I had to look up to," when it comes to the development of Warframe. Notably, barely six months before the announcement of Destiny 2's end of service, there were rumors kicking about that Destiny 3 was already in early development.

Welcome to the month of June which we kick off with a remake of an ARPG from 2001 that appears to have been given a bit more than just a graphics overhaul. The rest of the week starts with running a shop selling arcane goods, some hack and slash and sorcery, being a police dog in 1930's Chicago except it's an alternate universe, working as a medic during the war in the Pacific and finally being a card playing witch. As always there are some additional releases this week as well.

Gothic 1 Remake / This week's major release / Friday 5 June
Return to the Valley of the Mines in this faithful remake of the genre-defining open world RPG. Explore a hand-crafted, organic open world that reacts dynamically to your actions. Whether you're a seasoned Gothic veteran or this is your first time being thrown into the colony, you're in for a true RPG experience with unrestricted exploration like no other. Steam link

Previous updates hinted that Valve's Steam Machine may be launching somewhat soon, although a recent update to Steam's backend has added a welcome tour for the Steam Machine and potentially given us a glimpse at Valve's intended launch date for the Steam Machine. The welcome tour, which was shared on X by Brad Lynch, walks players through the initial setup of the Steam Machine and updating the Steam Controller's firmware for the first time.

For reference, Valve added the Steam Controller's welcome tour to Steam's backend on April 1 and revealed pricing and availability for the controller a little over a month later. If Valve sticks to the same timeline, we could see the Steam Machine launch in early July. However, Valve has previously made it clear that it has little control over the factors preventing the launch of the Steam Machine. If Valve's previous statements on the Steam Machine's pricing are anything to go by, the gaming giant will launch the gaming console when it is able to do so at a reasonable price or when it can no longer wait for that window.

Valve's SteamOS 3.8.6 Beta update has officially been announced, and although it brings the usual list of bug fixes and stability updates, the new update also adds support for a host of new hardware and some software features. For one, it looks as though AMD's work to get HDMI 2.1 functional on Linux is progressing, with SteamOS 3.8.6 bringing support for VRR over HDMI on devices with native HDMI output. The HDMI VRR support is noted as preliminary, so it may still be an imperfect experience, but it seems as though the work is coming along. VRR frame pacing has also been improved, and TCL TVs will now more reliably connect to the handheld via the Steam Deck Dock.

SteamOS 3.8.6 also adds controller support for several new gaming handhelds—specifically, the MSI Claw A1M, 7 AI+ A2VM, 8 AI+ A2VM, A8 BZ2EM, and the OneXPlayer Apex and X1 series—and it improves support for controllers using AccelGyro3D devices, with specific mention of the original Lenovo Legion Go and MSI Claw A1M. The graphics driver has also been updated with improved stability, and the update added graphics features necessary for some games, including Crimson Desert. The update also improves audio over HDMI, and there are several audio bug fixes and stability improvements. Last, but not least, SteamOS will also yet again allow Bluetooth Wake for the Steam Deck LCD, and it enables wake from sleep for connected Steam Controllers.

We previously reported about how some game studios were pushing back game launches over fears of being overshadowed by Grand Theft Auto VI in November 2026, with game developers and publishers explaining that gamers have limited time and money to invest into their hobby all at once, and launching too near such a large-scale launch could negatively impact a game's sales. It appears as though not even Xbox Gaming's highly anticipated Fable is immune to those same fears, as a recent announcement by Xbox on X has confirmed that Fable will now launch in February 2027 instead of its previous "autumn 2026" launch window. It has not been confirmed that GTA VI is the reason for the delay—which is not Fable's first delay, mind you—but Xbox's explanation that the game is being moved "so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves," seems to suggest that GTA VI may at least be one of the factors. The original release of Fable may also have been too close to the launch of Gears of War: E-Day, which is slated to launch in September 2026. The full statement by Xbox follows.

Xbox on XThis is year is packed with incredible games for XBOX players to enjoy, from Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 to Control Resonant, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Grand Theft Auto VI. In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we're moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves. We're excited to be giving players a major new look at Fable, as well as our broader lineup, at XBOX Games Showcase on June 7.

Intel recently announced the new Arc G3 and G3 Extreme CPUs designed for the gaming handheld market, with both Acer and OneXPlayer announcing new gaming handhelds based on the updated Panther Lake CPUs. Intel has confirmed the existence of a new "MSI Claw 8 EX AI+" handheld with the new Arc G3 Extreme CPU. Previous retail leaks of the Claw 8 EX AI+ hinted at pricing in the region of €1,500 in Europe, although we likely won't know actual retail or US pricing until the official launch. Those prior leaks also tipped an 8-inch, 500-nit, 120 Hz, 1080p display, 32 GB of RAM, and an 80 Wh battery.

Following the announcement, alleged leaked images of the gaming handheld appeared on Reddit, showing off a refreshed design language. The supposed image leak reveals a design more akin to the current ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, with the lower portion of the grips separated from the screen, with the display slightly jutting out from the rest of the body along the bottom edge—likely a design choice to achieve more ergonomic grips without losing a large display. The images only reveal the front of the device, which has a usual Xbox controller layout and two sizeable front-facing speaker grilles, so it's unclear where the ports will be, but based on the small glimpse of the bottom edge of the device, it seems as though all of the I/O will be on the top edge of the handheld. VideoCardz also shared an image of the device that it obtained from its own sources, which appears to corroborate the top I/O position.

MSI will showcase its latest QD-OLED lineup at COMPUTEX 2026. The MPG OLED 322URDX36 highlights this showcase with a brand new exterior design. It features a market-leading 4K 360 Hz QD-OLED panel and debuts Triple Mode, setting a new milestone for OLED gaming monitors.

The MPG OLED 322URDX36 is the world's first 31.5-inch 4K 360 Hz gaming monitor on the market to feature the innovative Triple Mode configuration. This technology allows players to switch freely between 4K 360 Hz, 2K 520 Hz, and FHD 680 Hz based on their preferences, meeting the specific performance demands of various game genres. The monitor utilizes a 5th-gen QD-OLED panel with Penta Tandem technology. Its RGB Stripe sub-pixel layout minimizes color fringing and ensures text clarity. The display is equipped with the DarkArmor Film, which improves black levels by 40% and increases scratch resistance by 2.5 times. Additionally, Uniform Luminance supports HDR curve customization, ensuring accurate and consistent visuals across all gaming environments.

A revolutionary breakthrough in global gaming display technology has arrived. Evnia, the premium gaming brand under Philips, together with display giant BOE, recently unveiled its new flagship benchmark at a technical launch event: the Evnia Native FHD IPS 1000 Hz Eye-Care Gaming Monitor 25M4P5200T.

The world's first native 1000 Hz hardware monitor redefines the pinnacle of competitive gaming. Welcome to the next generation of esports: true 1000 Hz, flawless clarity.

Acer today announced the Predator Atlas 8 (PA08-I51) gaming handheld, broadening the portfolio of high-performance solutions under the Predator brand. The device is powered by up to the new Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor, delivering breakthrough handheld performance and battery efficiency for serious PC gamers to take on the go. Offering the full Windows 11 experience combined with XBOX Game Pass, the Predator Atlas 8 provides faster access to gaming, system tools, and settings, keeping every session moving with less friction.

Jerry Kao, Chief Operating Officer at Acer, commented: "With the Predator Atlas 8, we are combining the Predator design philosophy with the power of the new Intel Arc G-Series processors to blur the lines between gaming PC and handheld performance. From the Predator AeroBlade cooling system to PredatorSense to the adaptive trigger controls, every element of this handheld is curated to give gamers maximum control over their own experiences, wherever they choose to play."

Fosi Audio has announced the launch of the new C3 Gaming Sound Card, the first card in the company's esports lineup. Now available on various shopping platforms, the C3 combines StepSense gaming audio, Hi-fi-grade circuitry, and intuitive desktop controls to help competitive players hear more, react faster, and communicate more clearly during gameplay.

StepSense Audio Enhancement for Competitive FPS Gaming Developed specifically for FPS gamers, the C3 uses Fosi Audio's proprietary StepSense positional audio enhancement technology to analyze in-game audio in real time and intelligently enhance critical footstep frequencies without overpowering explosions, gunfire, or environmental effects. Unlike traditional EQ-based gaming sound cards that boost entire frequency ranges indiscriminately, the StepSense technology selectively enhances key positional audio cues while preserving the overall game mix for improved situational awareness and reduced listening fatigue.

On May 18, Microsoft announced the Xbox Player Voice initiative, a new feedback hub where players could suggest features they wanted to see in the Xbox ecosystem and vote on suggestions provided by others—somewhat similar to a traditional forum or even a GitHub discussions page. Almost 10 days on from that launch, and the top-requested features have become overwhelmingly clear. Based on the top three upvoted topics on the board, players are desperate for basic console features. Specifically, Xbox players want exclusives, free online multiplayer access, and backwards compatibility, each of which has well over 15,000 upvotes in support.

The topic discussing Xbox exclusives has, at the time of writing, over 20,000 upvotes, putting it in the top spot on the forum. While Microsoft has yet to officially respond to the request for exclusives, the gaming giant's new CEO, Asha Sharma, has previously stated that the company was reconsidering its approach to exclusives and game publishing in general, as part of her "return to Xbox" plan. Given the PC-console hybrid direction Xbox Gaming has been going lately, which has been reinforced by what Xbox revealed about Project Helix, any Xbox exclusives will also be available on PC at launch. In the thread arguing for exclusives, players have commented that "without exclusive games, there is not enough value to buy an Xbox," with other gamers explicitly calling for console-only exclusives that would not be available on PC. Others argued that, in the current gaming market, missing out on a multi-platform launch could cost Xbox Gaming money instead. Others seem to be engaging in console war shenanigans, arguing that if Sony is removing PlayStation games from PC and Xbox, Xbox should remove its games from the PS5.

Over a year after the brand released the Aorus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Infinity, it seems as though Gigabyte is planning a new variant of the Infinity graphics card series, this time with an RTX 5080 GPU running the show. A new Gigabyte GPU has shown up in a Russian regulatory listing as "GV-5080NAORUSIF WD 16GD," shared by @RubyRapids on X, and Richard Huynh, an online hardware leaker, clarified in a response that the specific SKU is related to the Infinity Wood graphics card, joking that "I had to walk away for a while when told about this SKU. To laugh," presumably at the name that could be misread as an unintended innuendo.

In a previous post on X, Huynh had mentioned that a Gigabyte representative had told him about the new SKU, as "a 5080 but with a wood style cooler," suggesting that the cooler won't actually have any real wood trim, instead relying on printed texture or perhaps a thin veneer. This is the first time this GPU has shown up publicly, so there's not much to suggest specs or a potential launch date, although Computex isn't an unreasonable time frame for the announcement or reveal, given that the graphics card is seemingly going through regulatory approval. The Aorus RTX 5090 Infinity has a boost clock of up to 2730 MHz, which is a solid 13% higher than the base RTX 5090, which might be an indication that the RTX 5080 Infinity Wood will also have a decent overclock over the stock RTX 5080.

Corsair (Nasdaq: CRSR), maker of leading gaming peripherals, announced a set of collectible peripherals in a collaboration with the brutal 3v3 superhero tag fighting game, Invincible VS. Fans of the comics, TV series, and game will be able to show off with a trio of custom products. The Novablade Pro Wireless Hall Effect Leverless Fighting Game Controller, Novablade Pro Wireless faceplate mod, and MM300 2XL Anti-Fray Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad all feature artwork inspired by Skybound and its first in-house game development studio Quarter Up's tag-team throwdown.

"Invincible VS drops players into some of the most intense, high-stakes battles in gaming," said Tobias Brinkmann, SVP and GM of Gaming at Corsair. "Corsair builds hardware for competitors who embrace the stakes and want every possible advantage hardware can provide. The Novablade Pro Wireless delivers that in a package that does full justice to one of the most exciting IPs in the space, giving combatants the gear they need to stay a step ahead of their competition."

Silicon Power (SP) announces the launch of the ROG certified XPOWER Cyclone R DDR5 memory module, the latest addition to its performance-focused XPOWER gaming lineup. The new module will be showcased at COMPUTEX 2026, underscoring Silicon Power's continued push into high-performance gaming hardware designed for next-generation PC ecosystems.

ROG Certified for Next-Generation Gaming Systems
Developed in close collaboration with ASUS and validated through extensive testing within the ROG ecosystem as part of the brand's 20th anniversary initiatives, the XPOWER Cyclone R carries the prestigious ROG (Republic of Gamers) Certified badge, a validation reserved for components that meet ASUS's rigorous standards for compatibility, stability, and gaming performance across its premium platform ecosystem.

Today, HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) announced the HyperX OMEN 16 VALORANT Limited Edition, a gaming laptop designed in collaboration with Riot Games that combines performance-driven hardware with a design of the most popular gaming titles, VALORANT. Built for players who demand speed, precision and personalization, the new laptop marks the latest milestone in HP's collaboration with Riot Games, following last year's OMEN 35L VALORANT Limited Edition desktop and the OMEN 16 League of Legends Limited Edition laptop. Together, these devices reflect a shared commitment to creating products that connect more deeply with fans of VALORANT and League of Legends.

HyperX gaming solutions are grounded in combining player-centric design with advanced engineering and intelligent software that can unlock greater performance. This laptop brings this approach to life with responsive performance, thoughtful customization and a design inspired by the VALORANT universe, helping players stay focused, react quickly and compete with confidence.

ATK has officially announced its next flagship-tier lightweight gaming mouse, the X1 Air Master+, which will launch globally on May 26 for CNY 299.2, which converts to roughly $44.03, according to the peripheral maker's latest post on Bilibili. Pricing will likely vary depending on the region, but it will likely still be in the affordable or mid-range price bracket. The X1 Air Master+ features a fairly standard symmetrical shape, measuring 127 × 60 × 40 mm (L × W × H), with a slightly rearward hump, and it weighs in at a claimed 48 g, which isn't as light as something like the new Finalmouse but will be noticeably lighter than something like a Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike for most people. In terms of internals, the X1 Air Master+ will feature a Nordic 54-series MCU, a new PixArt PAW 3955 Master sensor, and ATK optical mouse switches.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the ATK X1 Air Master+'s design comes from its firmware, which allows for custom virtual sensor position, without having to actually physically move a sensor or resort to two sensors to interpolate the virtual sensor position. According to the marketing information shown off in the Bilibili post, the sensor's virtual position will be adjustable along the Y axis, which should enable players sensitive to sensor position to "move" the sensor to make their movements more comfortable and accurate. The rest of the mouse seems to offer a complete package, too, with a claimed 0.181 ms click latency and up to 300 hours of battery life on a single charge. ATK also includes three separate styles of PTFE feet—medium, wide, and dot skates—for players to customize the feel of their gaming mouse physically as well as digitally. It will also feature an adjustable dynamic DPI curve, which will let players set variable sensitivity at different movement speeds.

Amid the controversy about the upcoming California and Colorado age verification laws, System76 CEO, Carl Richell, revealed that he was meeting with lawmakers to champion exemptions that would allow open-source operating systems, like Linux distributions, to forego the inclusion of such age verification systems. As reported by GamingOnLinux, Article 30 of Colorado Senate Bill 26-051, now available online in its final form, now states that the article does not apply to "an operating system provider or developer that distributes an operating system or application under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software without any platform-imposed technical or contractual restrictions imposed by the provider or developer on installing all modified versions."

For its part, the California Digital Age Assurance Act, bill AB 1856, now contains similar verbiage relating to open-source OS providers, except California excludes open-source developers from the bill entirely. A recent amendment to the bill reads: "'Operating system provider' does not mean a person or entity that distributes an operating system or application under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software." These exemptions functionally mean that most Linux distributions will not require users to submit information for age verifications, although the water gets a bit murkier with dual-license distributions, like SteamOS. In the case of SteamOS, although the underlying Arch Linux-based distribution is open-source and exempt, the included Steam Client is still a proprietary app store that will likely require age data. Notably there does not seem to be an exception in the California bill for open-source or similarly licensed browsers, which means open-source browsers, like Firefox and Chromium, may still need to build in support to request the signal for age attestation from the operating system.

The Khronos Group, the organization behind the Vulkan graphics API that forms the backbone of gaming on Linux, has officially listed the Valve Steam Machine on its database of conformant products. The Steam Machine showed up on the Vulkan database on May 23 sporting Vulkan 1.4 support and AMD Navi 33 GPU hardware. The spec sheet listed in the database indicates that the Steam Machine in question is still on the Linux kernel version 6.16, which is the latest version recently released in the SteamOS Beta 3.85 in mid-May.

While there is no launch date or other novel information listed in the Vulkan database, the addition of the Steam Machine to the database is an indication that Valve may be preparing for an imminent Steam Machine launch. This is also reinforced by the fact that the Steam Machine was submitted to the database with a current version of SteamOS running—even if it is a beta version—suggesting that SteamOS support for the Steam Machine has progressed beyond the previously indicated "initial support" phase. At this point, it seems like one of the last, if not the last, remaining roadblocks hindering the launch of the Steam Machine is the current RAM crisis and its associated hardware shortages.

Finalmouse, maker of the high-performance, somewhat controversial ULX series of gaming mice, has just launched its latest gaming mouse, the Finalmouse Starlight X, after weeks of teasing the new peripheral. The Starlight X is an ultra-light carbon fiber composite gaming mouse, weighing in at 38 g, and it is the first new Finalmouse shape in 11 years. The mouse was designed with FPS gaming in mind, and the brand says that the symmetrical shape has a fuller rear hump with increased support, and reduced pressure points. The Starlight X shell measures 124.8 × 58.9 × 39.5 mm (L × W × H) and has minimal cutouts on the top, likely to balance light weight without compromising comfort and grip. The Finalmouse SLX Nightfall is currently the only colorway on offer, and it will be available for pre-order on the Finalmouse online store for $179 starting on May 30 unless you have an early access code. The headline feature of the Starlight X, however, is the addition of TMR sensing, which enables analogue features, like rapid trigger, adjustable actuation point, and a claimed up to 35 ms latency reduction compared to similar gaming mice.

The new switch tech itself isn't simply a new switch; the SLX uses what it calls the "TMR Dual-State" switch system, which implements TMR sensing with a mechanical click feedback mechanism. According to Finalmouse, this means the new switch mechanism incurs a weight penalty of just 0.24 g, while Logitech's HITS analogue sensing and feedback system on the new G Pro X2 Superstrike adds complexity and has been the scapegoat for the Superstrike's 61 g weight. The drawback of this hybrid switch tech is that the tactile feedback is not adjustable. The SLX is built around a custom Finalmouse F1 sensor, built in collaboration with PixArt, and a Nordic nRF54LM20 MCU, although Finalmouse has deliberately not quoted common specs, instead citing end-to-end latency of 223 µs (0.223 ms). The sensor is likely based on the PAW 3955 sensor, which was previously shown off in the Akko Dash series. Finalmouse has also neglected to specify the Starlight X's polling rate, stating instead that "SLX moves beyond traditional polling-rates entirely," with PerfectPolling that combines subtick optimization, efficient and robust RF scheduling, and high-speed USB interrupts. For what it's worth, USB is generally capped at 8 kHz, and the 232 µs figure cited previously lines up with 8 kHz, which offers theoretical latency of 125 µs.

Following the recent news that Bungie would stop development on Destiny 2 in June 2026 after delivering one final update, rumors are starting to emerge from insider sources about the months leading up to the announcement and the inner workings at Bungie surrounding the game's sunsetting. According to insider sources, as reported by Forbes, the vast majority of Bungie staff were unaware of the plans to end development on the game, with only the select few team members—some working on the final update and others who had been moved to Marathon development—privy to the information. Those who were unaware of the upcoming announcement only found out about the plans to end development at the same time as the public, and many of those workers were left to continue working on future updates for Destiny 2 in the meantime.

Meanwhile, leading up to and following the announcement, Bungie has been Destiny 2 team members over to Marathon, its latest large-scale game—a game that appears to not have had quite the commercial success Sony and Bungie were hoping for, despite an estimated 1.2 million sales, as the developer scrambles to add features to address player concerns. The report also claims that Sony is supporting Marathon with more resources following the Destiny 2 announcement and that there is no expectation for Marathon to become the next big live-service hit that would replace Destiny as a revenue stream, although there is an expectation that upcoming PvE and PvP updates will grow the game's player base. Currently, there are still no other upcoming games in development at Bungie, at least none that have been rumored or announced, and it's unclear if anything else will be green-lit while Marathon is this early in its live-service life cycle—numerous projects have been pitched by Bungie employees, including more Destiny games, but none have been pursued so far.

Welcome to the end of May and this week's AAA release might involve some dry martinis and spies. The rest of the week kicks off with a life simulation, the aftermath of the fall of Rome, some space mining and fleet building, being a mechanic in Poland during the '90's and finally we end the week with a 2D platformer from the developers of Shovel Knight. Don't forget to check out this week's other releases as well.

007 First Light / This week's AAA release / Wednesday 27 May
Follow James Bond as a young, resourceful and sometimes reckless recruit in MI6's training program, and discover an origin story of the world's most famous spy. After a heroic act, young Naval air crewman James Bond is offered to join the newly revived Double 0 program. But when a mission to stop a rogue agent ends in tragedy, he must join forces with his reluctant mentor Greenway to expose a deep conspiracy and stop a looming coup at the heart of the State. Steam link

Forza Horizon 6 recently launched on PC and Xbox Series consoles on May 19 to impressive player counts on Steam, and it has largely retained those concurrent player counts, returning to around 280,000 peak concurrent players daily throughout its launch week. It makes sense, then, that sales figures are also strong, at least according to estimates by Alinea Analytics. The analytics firm estimated in a recent report that Forza Horizon 6 had sold 4.9 million units and reached as much as $325 million.

[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of [Forza Horizon 6] is now live]

According to Alinea, 1.7 million gamers purchased the $120 Advanced Access version, but more interestingly, 42% of those copies sold were purchased by Xbox gaming players—although this includes PC, console, and cloud. In addition to the high sales figures, over 3 million Game Pass gamers played Forza Horizon 6 in the game's launch week. The revenue split between Steam and Xbox is almost dead even, with the former estimated to account for 49% of the game's revenue, while Xbox accounted for 51%. Previous rumors indicated that Xbox Gaming may be looking to lay deeper roots in China, but Forza Horizon 6's sales performance in China confirms that it already has a strong foothold in China, which accounted for 13% of the Horizon 6 Steam players.