A fan group backing the #SaveMassEffect campaign has taken it offline. We Are Mass Effect, a fan community founded by Ariel Pena Aguilar, teamed up with illustrator and YouTuber Kala Elizabeth to buy a slot on a Times Square billboard in New York on October 26. The ad read "Keelah Si'yah #SaveMassEffect" and apparently ran for 15 seconds once an hour, costing just $250. This comes about a week after EA shut down BioWare and cancelled the next Mass Effect game, part of around 400 job cuts across the company.

Elizabeth, Ariel and Mer of We Are Mass Effect then started a GoFundMe for three mobile billboards: one outside EA's Redwood City headquarters, one outside its Edmonton office, and one at The Game Awards in Los Angeles on December 10. The $5,274 goal was reportedly hit in under 15 minutes, and donations are now paused at $5,715 from 89 donors. Any leftover money was meant for the Game Workers' Hardship Fund, though that fund can't take direct donations right now.

Epic Games has more and more leaned into AI to accelerate game development, with the gaming giant recently announcing that it was switching to AI-first development and adding a slew of new AI-powered features in Unreal Engine. Now, Epic Games's Tim Sweeney has responded to a Kotaku article about Epic Games issuing a DMCA take-down of an AI-created Fortnite clone, effectively explaining that the studio will soon allow AI training on "outputs of Unreal Engine and MetaHuman."

Sweeney explained in the post on X that, while it currently restricts AI training on outputs from Unreal Engine and MetaHuman, the company is "working to remove this restriction from EULA terms, though each game using these tools is released under terms of the developers' choosing, which can allow or restrict AI training." This has largely been met by backlash from the gaming community, who reject Sweeney's framing it as a copyright issue and describe it as hypocritical for Epic to take down an AI-generated Fortnite clone but also train its AI models on output created by Unreal Engine developers. It's not currently clear if the training data will be kept for Epic's own AI models alone or if it will also be sold to third parties for AI training.

Epic Games has long been supportive of putting more generative AI into its game development processes, with the gaming giant previously revealing an ever-increasing number of generative AI features in Unreal Engine, as well as plans to create Fortnite characters with AI—which resulted in Vampire Survivors developer, Poncle, pulling out of a Fortnite collaboration with Epic Games. More recently, a report by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier claims that insiders at Epic Games say the studio will be transitioning to an AI-first game development workflow.

Reportedly, the staffer was told by a senior that there would be "no more handwritten code," and that all art would be "generated with full AI workflows." Epic's shift to AI-first coding and game art will start with an unannounced Disney shooter that was delayed but was originally planned for a March 2027 launch, according to the publication. The shooter is slated to feature characters from both Marvel and Star Wars franchises, and it will now be produced largely with Anthropic's Claude AI suite, with humans reviewing work. Jake Jones, communications director at Epic Games, told Bloomberg that "we're embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do."

Discord was met with substantial backlash when it first announced that it would be adding age verification requirements globally, with the platform almost immediately rolling back the ID requirements after the backlash. It has since announced that it will be introducing new age verification methods, including credit card verification, Apple Store and Google Play Store verification, Google Wallet, and AgeKey—a third-party reusable age credential that can be used for multiple platforms. It will use these services to place its users in an age group—13-17 years and 18+ years—which will allow them access only to content appropriate for their age. While these new methods will apply to international users, users in the UK, Brazil, Australia, and the US state of Texas will have to follow different guidelines.

However, these new systems will not be the first resort for age determination. Discord says that, following the controversy with the ID requirement for age verification, it will prefer other ways to verify the age of its users, including account signals—account age and which servers users are part of, specifically. It says that these signals match biometrics on accuracy. Only in cases where there aren't sufficient signals to confirm user age, will Discord require users to verify their age using one of the aforementioned age assurance options. Users in the teen group will not have access to sensitive media, while messages to teens from non-friends will be filtered through message requests, and other users will not be able to see teens' full profiles or activity. They will also not be able to join age-restricted servers without confirming their age.

Microsoft has filed a patent application for a system that would show ads in PC and console games during natural breaks, such as after a boss fight, at the end of a cutscene, or on a loading screen. Titled "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access" (US 2026/0260258 A1), the filing describes an initial ad-free window, either time-based (30 minutes, say) or tied to progress, like finishing a level. As that window runs out, the game would signal a content management system once it reaches a suitable pause, and the ad would play. Watching it earns a "credit" that delays the next interruption. Some have pointed out that this patent describes something very similar to what free mobile games are doing.

Of course, this is only a patent application. Companies file these all the time, and many never become products. The filing does not name a specific Xbox game, service, or rollout. Microsoft recently began testing free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming for Insiders, but those ads play before a session starts, and Microsoft says they will not interrupt gameplay. Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball has also said he personally believes interrupting gameplay "would be bad." However, what the patent describes would be a step in the opposite direction.

Data shared by analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics suggests physical discs still account for a meaningful share of revenue for PlayStation's biggest exclusives, even as Sony winds down disc production starting in 2028. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 pulled in $1.2 billion overall, with 35% of that coming from discs. Ghost of Yotei sits close behind at nearly 40% of its $400 million in revenue coming from discs. Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, and Death Stranding 2 all land in a similar 32% to 47% range. Helldivers 2 is the clear outlier, with physical copies covering just 8.3% of its $235 million in revenue, but that's to be expected from a multiplayer game.

As the numbers suggest, Sony's big-name exclusives still have a sizeable audience that leans towards physical discs. Meanwhile, Sony seems to be getting more careful about its bets. Concord's cancellation reportedly cost over $300 million, and titles like Marathon, Saros, Marvel Tokon, and Lego Horizon Adventures all landed softer than hoped. Marvel's Wolverine, one of the studio's biggest remaining tentpoles, just settled at 78 on Metacritic after its review embargo lifted, matching last year's Days Gone Remaster and falling short of prestige expectations.

We recently reported that Xbox's disc-to-digital entitlement program and the new CEO's refusal to address questions about Helix's disc drive suggested that the gaming giant was moving towards a new all-digital future, starting with Project Helix. However, a competing rumor—via Eurogamer Spain—appears to be taking shape, claiming that there is internal chatter at Xbox about Helix being "100% physical."

The same report from Eurogamer claims that this rumor has placed pressure on Sony, who has already seen massive player backlash over its decision to end physical media production, to postpone its shift to all-digital consoles. The rumor claims that PlayStation has "realized it is leaving an opening for other market players to shift their strategy," by announcing the end to physical media early, with Microsoft being mentioned as one of the key "market players." The suggestion is that the December 31, 2028 deadline for an all-digital PlayStation ecosystem would be pushed back by "one or two years."

1666: Amsterdam developer, Panache Games, previously acknowledged the use of AI-generated assets in the 1666: Amsterdam prologue in a statement following its appearance at the Summer Game Fest, claiming that there were "early versions of assets" in the game's prologue and promising that these assets would be replaced by human-made versions in the game's full release. Now, following the backlash surrounding that first incident, Panache has confirmed that it is walking away from generative AI in the game dev process entirely.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, the studio's co-founder and creative director, Patrice Désilets, has said that the AI-generated assets have been removed from the Early Access version of the game, which launched on August 25. "Yes, we use some AI in the process, mostly at the beginning, in pre-production. It's been totally removed, and we won't be using AI anymore." It's unclear if Désilets means that the studio will not be using generative AI in the rest of the development process for 1666 itself or if the studio will stop using generative AI as a whole.

Despite the game's overwhelming success, Arc Raiders's Expeditions has always been a contentious gameplay mechanic. The challenge offers players a window to complete a challenge and reset their Raider in exchange for permanent player upgrades, like more skill points, additional loot storage, cosmetics, and buffs, but, according to a new post by Embark Studios, Expeditions will be paused after The 5th Expedition, which starts on August 21.

The 5th Expedition window will open on September 8 and close on September 29, and even with this Expedition, Embark has introduced changes to the challenge structure in order to make the character reset less tedious for players who have run more than one Expedition in the past. The studio behind Arc Raiders explains that some of the issues highlighted by player feedback "need more than incremental fixes," and call for bigger changes, which it aims to implement after an Expedition pause, which will last until "early 2027."