GTA 6 is now the most pre-ordered game ever on both the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store, according to Sony and Microsoft. Sony announced the record in a PlayStation Blog post that opened PS5 pre-loading nine days before the November 19 launch, pointing to "unprecedented demand" for the early start. Xbox then called it "the most pre-ordered title of all time on the Microsoft Store" while confirming that GTA 6 will stream to Xbox One through Cloud Gaming. Neither company shared actual numbers, however.

Sensor Tower's tracker fills some of that gap. As of November 10, the firm estimates 9.69 million pre-orders worth about $942 million net of returns, up from 7.71 million a week earlier and 6.45 million in late October. PlayStation holds roughly 75% of that with 7.23 million copies and $703 million, while Xbox sits at 2.46 million copies and $239 million. That averages out to around $97 per copy, which fits with most buyers going for the $100 Ultimate Edition. If accurate, GTA 6 has passed the 8 million pre-orders CD Projekt reported for Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020. The comparison isn't quite like-for-like, though, since Cyberpunk also launched on PC and likely counted physical copies, while Sensor Tower seems to track digital console orders only.

It's been known since before the actual release date was announced that GTA VI would generate enough hype that there would be ripple effects throughout the gaming industry, with some analysts estimating that the game would generate as much as $4.5 billion in sales in its first week on the market. However, according to Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, in a recent interview with Variety, GTA VI is already exceeding expectations.

Strauss Zelnick via VarietyGrand Theft Auto VI" presales are "running far in excess of our expectations... That's a good thing. That said, we never claim success before it occurs. So we're just days away from beginning to see the fruits of our labor.

8BitDo has officially announced the Ultimate 3C+ Wired controller for Xbox as a $39.99 Xbox controller that incorporates many of the same features as the Ultimate 3C+ Wireless launched in October, but at a much lower price. The 3C+ Wired controller has a traditional Xbox layout on both the face buttons and the offset analog sticks, but it features additional customization options that set it apart from a regular Xbox controller.

The headline features of the Ultimate 3C+ Wired controller include TMR joysticks with adjustable tension, which are supposed to resist joystick drift; remappable fast-trigger L4 and R4 buttons for additional inputs and faster trigger response times; Hall effect triggers with switchable dual-mode functionality; and a 3.5 mm audio jack at the bottom of the controller for more immersive sound. It also has two additional back paddles with an integrated paddle lock to prevent accidental activations.

Corsair (Nasdaq: CRSR) is delighted to announce that the new Dark Cherry Blossom editions of the TC500 and TC100 RELAXED Gaming Chairs are now available for pre-order, with shipments beginning in early December.

These special variations bring rich, deep blue fabric upholstery and intricate cherry blossom embroidery across the rear of the backseat to two of our most popular chair designs, adding a distinctive, elegant aesthetic to any setup.

Santa Monica Studio has delayed God of War Laufey by roughly three months, moving the PS5 exclusive from February 16 to May 20, 2027. The studio announced the change on X earlier today, and the only explanation it gave is that it needs extra time for finishing touches. It's a bit of a surprise, since the game was only around three months out and pre-orders opened back in late September. The Standard Edition sells for $69.99, the Digital Deluxe Edition for $79.99, and Sony also put up a £129.99 Collector Box for sale with the old February 16 date attached. Here's the studio's full statement:

Santa Monica StudioSince the reveal of God of War Laufey in June, we've been deeply grateful to see so much excitement for Faye's journey through the Everywhen. We don't take for granted the trust placed in our studio to make an extraordinary experience worthy of the passion and dedication of our fans. With this in mind, we've made the decision to delay God of War Laufey's release to May 20th, 2027. We will make the most of each moment until then by putting in the finishing touches and pushing the game to its fullest potential. On behalf of everyone on the team, we appreciate your patience and we'll be back to share more updates soon!

Rockstar has moved GTA 6's pre-load up by two days. According to an updated Newswire post and support page, digital pre-orders can now start downloading on November 10, instead of the November 12 date announced back in June. The exact timing depends on the console. On PlayStation 5, the pre-load unlocks at midnight local time in the user's respective time zone. Xbox Series X|S gets a single global unlock at 12 a.m. GMT, which works out to 7 PM ET or 4 PM PT on November 9 for players in North America, while the full launch is still set for November 19.

Rockstar also put a number on the file size for the first time, saying the pre-load will need "up to 212 GB of available space depending on your device." That's a touch above the 210 GB figure a dataminer pulled from the PlayStation Store backend last week, but it's safe to say it was an accurate leak. The "depending on your device" bit suggests the PS5 and Xbox builds won't be exactly the same size, though Rockstar didn't share a per-console breakdown. That does mean that on a launch PS5 with roughly 667 GB of usable storage, GTA 6 alone would eat close to a third of the drive.

8BitDo has just officially launched the Arcade Controller Pro as its latest stab at an arcade controller. The Arcade Controller Pro uses a similar layout to the existing Arcade Controller, but it features smaller buttons and tighter button groupings for faster inputs and switching. The Arcade Controller Pro is currently available for pre-order from 8BitDo on Amazon for $119.99, and it is available in white and a bolder black and red color scheme. The official release is slated for November 30, 2026, which is when pre-order shipments will also start.

The tempered glass faceplate on the Arcade Controller Pro houses 17 buttons, aside from the input control toggles and extra shortcut buttons along the top edge. The P1-P5 buttons scattered throughout the Arcade Controller Pro are remappable on-the-fly, thanks to a built-in display running 8BitDo's Ultimate Software right on the controller's MCU. The Arcade Controller Pro also comes with an included magnetic wrist-rest that houses lock caps to cover the P1-P5 buttons to prevent accidental presses, and the quick-release glass faceplate hides a keycap and switch removal tool and three additional switches, in case of emergency.

Since Sony announced that it would be ending physical media production for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro, there has been much discussion about the value of physical games media in the modern gaming landscape. Some argue that physical media is invaluable for game preservation and access to content in some remote parts of the world, while others argue that its value is limited, because the physical media market share is small for most games, and it has limited preservation value, thanks to day-one patches. Alinea Analytics recently posted some data about physical media sales on PlayStation, putting more numbers to the impact of physical games media on PlayStation.

Interestingly, despite the relatively high physical sales split of some games, like Resident Evil Requiem, with disc sales accounting for 30.2% of its sales, and Marvel's Wolverine, whose disc sales came to 32.3% of its total sales revenue, the total physical game sales revenue for games released in 2026 on PlayStation 5 and PS4 amounted to $655 million, which is less than 20% of sales revenue for the year. As the analytics firm explains, that revenue split itself is skewed by digital-only releases and pre-order bonuses, which are all digital sales. The data itself seems to tell a story of a split player base: those who buy first-party, single-player, narrative-driven games tend to skew more towards physical media, while sports and multiplayer gamers tend to buy digital more often.

GTA 6 has now racked up an estimated 6.45 million digital pre-orders worldwide, worth roughly $630 million net of returns, according to the latest weekly update from Sensor Tower's sales tracker. PlayStation accounts for 74% of the total, or about 4.80 million copies and $468 million, while Xbox sits at 1.66 million copies and $162 million. The tracker's October 13 figures had GTA 6 at 6.08 million pre-orders and $594 million, so around 370,000 more people locked in their copy in about a week. In the US, Sensor Tower says GTA 6's digital pre-orders are 148% ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) at the same point before launch, the best performer among the big releases it tracked over the past six years.

Of course, these are third-party estimates covering digital copies only, and Take-Two hasn't confirmed any figures. CEO Strauss Zelnick did say in August that pre-orders were skewing toward the $100 Ultimate Edition, and Sensor Tower now says the vast majority of buyers went for that version. PlayStation has led since tracking began in June, and in late August Sensor Tower had it at about 77% of 4.86 million pre-orders. The firm tweaked its estimation model on October 5, however, so those older numbers aren't a perfect like-for-like comparison. Xbox's smaller share probably isn't helped by US Xbox hardware sales sitting at an all-time low this year. GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, so expect these numbers to keep climbing.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is off to an unusually good start on Steam. The campaign early access went live for pre-order customers on October 16, and at the time of writing, 1,630 of the game's 1,812 Steam user reviews are positive, giving it a "Very Positive" score of 90%. Insider Gaming first spotted the trend when the game had around 900 reviews and a SteamDB rating of 81.15%, which already made it the best-received Call of Duty on Steam since 2015's Black Ops III. The review count has more than doubled since then, and the positive share has climbed to 85.78% at the time of writing. Of course, these are early days. The current reviews come from players who pre-ordered to play the campaign a week early, so they are probably the most enthusiastic part of the audience.

Still, the last few releases fared much worse by comparison. SteamDB rates Black Ops 7 at 38.71%, Black Ops 6 at 45.75%, Modern Warfare III at 48.19%, and Modern Warfare II at 47.10%, while Black Ops III still leads the modern games at 84.36%. SteamDB's formula pulls games with fewer reviews closer to 50%, so as more positive reviews come in, Modern Warfare 4 could leave Black Ops III in the rearview mirror fairly soon. Multiplayer and DMZ only arrive with the full launch on October 23, and the score could look quite different once the wider player base jumps in. PC players should also keep in mind that TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are mandatory to jump into the action.

Valve's Steam store listing for the Valve Index now states that the headset is no longer being produced, with remaining headsets, controllers, and accessories up for sale while supplies last. On the US store, the Index headset is down 20% to $399.20 from its usual $499, and the Replacement Left Controller and Replacement Tether are 20% off as well. Valve says nothing changes for existing owners, and the Index will continue to be supported through Steam and SteamVR. The headset launched back in June 2019, when the full kit went for $999 on preorder. Its successor, the Steam Frame, opened for preorders on September 14 at $1,059 for the 256 GB model and $1,299 for the 1 TB version.

This isn't a sudden decision. Valve's Lawrence Yang already confirmed to The Verge in November 2025 that the company had stopped manufacturing the Index, around the same time Valve announced the Steam Frame. The store page update seems to be the formal send-off for the Index. However, the Steam Frame is currently available only through a reservation lottery system. It also uses camera-based inside-out tracking and doesn't support the Lighthouse base stations the Index relies on, so Index owners can't carry their base stations over to the new headset. Anyone still interested in a Lighthouse-tracked Valve headset, at a lower price than the Frame, should probably act soon, since there is no word on how much stock is left.

Sony has opened pre-orders for the God of War Laufey Collector Box on its UK PlayStation Store, priced at £129.99. Despite the name, the box does not include the game in any form, and the store page states plainly that God of War Laufey is sold separately. Buyers instead get a light-up resin statue of Faye, a 51-card Oracle Deck with custom illustrations on every card, and a mini artbook of concept art put together by the development team. Orders are capped at one per customer, and the listing carries a February 16, 2027 date, the same day the game launches on PlayStation 5.

The Faye-led spin-off was first tipped back in April, and Santa Monica Studio confirmed the February release at San Diego Comic-Con in July. The Standard Edition sells for $69.99 and the Digital Deluxe Edition for $79.99, and there is no word of a traditional collector's edition that bundles the game. That is quite a change from God of War Ragnarök, whose $199.99 Collector's Edition came with access to the game on both PS4 and PS5. Of course, Sony isn't alone here, since Rockstar's $399.99 Vice City Collection box for GTA 6 also leaves the game out. It looks like players who want both the statue and the game will have to buy them separately.

8BitDo has officially launched the latest version of its Ultimate Wireless controller, the Ultimate 3C+, which is, for an intents and purposes, a more affordable version of the recently revealed special edition Ultimate 3 Wireless controllers. The Ultimate 3C comes in at a pre-order price of $39.99 on Amazon, and it will officially be launched for regular purchase on October 30. The controller itself is based on the same Xbox design as most of 8BitDo's Ultimate controllers—meaning it features the ABXY face buttons and offset thumb sticks—and it is compatible with both Android and Windows via 2.4 GHz, USB-C wired, and Bluetooth 5.4 LE connections, with the 2.4 GHz connection offering 1 kHz polling for reduced input latency.

The 8BitDo Ultimate 3C+ has a number of flagship-tier features, like TMR joysticks with adjustable tension, separate trigger vibration motors that sync with the controller rumble, lockable back paddles, additional L/R4 shoulder buttons, Hall effect triggers with both linear and non-linear control modes, and magnetic storage on the controller for the 2.4 GHz receiver. 8BitDo says that the 500 mAh battery in the Ultimate 3C controller is able to power the controller for up to 20 hours when using the 2.4 GHz connection, while Bluetooth stretches that to 32 hours.

Atari today announced THE 800XL - a faithful recreation of its best-selling 8-bit computer, bringing the iconic machine and its extensive collection of games and software to a new generation. Designed by Retro Games Ltd., renowned for authentic recreations of 1980s hardware, THE 800XL retains the look and feel of the original, including a full-sized mechanical keyboard, baked-in Atari BASIC, and a working cartridge slot, while adding features for modern displays and gaming setups. The hardware, manufactured and distributed by PLAION REPLAI, is available for pre-order now for USD $219.99, GBP £199.99, EUR €219.99 and AUD $349.99, with shipping beginning on 23 April 2027.

Matt Burnett, VP of Strategic Operations at Atari"The 800XL represents an important moment in Atari's history, when home computers were becoming a gateway to gaming, programming and creativity. It gave an entire generation the opportunity to discover what they could do with a computer, while offering an incredible catalog of games and software. That combination is what makes the 800XL such an important part of Atari's legacy, and working with Retro Games Ltd. and Plaion we are excited to bring back this modernized version."

Forza Horizon 6 will apparently reach the PlayStation 5 on January 26, 2027, according to billbil-kun, the generally reliable leaker at Dealabs. That would put the port a little over eight months behind the Xbox Series X|S and PC versions, which launched on May 19, and it would miss the 2026 window that Microsoft and Playground Games have been promising since January. The game is also said to be getting a physical disc release on the same day as the digital version. That is a change from Forza Horizon 5, which arrived on PS5 in April 2025 as a digital-only title. Pricing is reportedly set at €69.99 in Europe and £59.99 in the UK, the same as the Xbox version, and billbil-kun expects the US price to land at $69.99.

An official announcement is expected as early as this week, with pre-orders opening shortly after. Of course, neither Microsoft nor Playground Games has confirmed any of this. In early September, the studio's own blog still said the PS5 version would be out "later this year". The Verge's Tom Warren had been saying otherwise since late August, and he later reported that the port was being pushed to early 2027, apparently to coincide with the game's first expansion. It looks like he had it right. PS5 owners should keep an eye out for the official launch date and pre-order details.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is off to the series' best PC launch by a wide margin. The game came out on October 2 and peaked at over 52,000 concurrent Steam players a day later, according to SteamDB. That is nearly four times the 13,758 that Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown managed in 2019, while Assault Horizon only reached 3,795. It also apparently topped Steam's global top sellers chart. That's certainly not bad for a fairly niche series that Bandai Namco revived more than seven years after the last mainline game.

Steam reviews, however, are a little less glowing. The game sits at around 78% positive, which puts it in the "Mostly Positive" bracket. Players seem to like the dogfights, the mission variety, the campaign, and the soundtrack. Most complaints are about performance, with frame rates lower than people expected, and opinions on multiplayer are mixed. There was also some confusion around the pre-order bonus, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, which needs Wings of Theve installed because it's treated as DLC due to licensing restrictions. Bandai Namco hasn't shared sales figures yet, and Steam is only one of three platforms, so we don't know how big the launch officially was. I think a patch or two for the frame rates would probably help that review score.

Steam reportedly just had its best September on record. Alinea Analytics estimates that the platform generated a hefty $1.7 billion last month, up 13% from September 2025, which held the previous record. The third quarter was also Steam's best to date at $5.5 billion, a 12% increase year over year. That puts the 2026 total at $16.5 billion after nine months, compared to $14.5 billion in the same period last year, and well past the $11.1 billion it made in the first half. Valve doesn't publish these figures, so all of this is Alinea's estimate. Bulkhead's early access shooter Wardogs was the top premium game with $86.9 million after launching on September 10, followed by Onimusha: Way of the Sword at $30.4 million and The Blood of Dawnwalker at $26.9 million.

Free-to-play is still a big part of the picture, however. Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, PUBG, and Dota 2 brought in almost $168 million combined, nearly 10% of the month's total. Alinea also noted that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, a free upgrade for existing owners, pushed the 11-year-old game to roughly 2.4 million daily active users across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox on its September 30 launch day, over ten times its 2026 average. All of this spending comes at a time when PC hardware is anything but cheap. Valve's own Steam Machine starts at $1,049, and Micron expects memory supply to be much tighter in 2027 and 2028. The analytics suggest people are buying games regardless, and Alinea expects Steam to cross $20 billion in a year for the first time. With the Q4 release slate still to come, that looks to be a safe bet.

NACON, a leading video game publisher and designer of premium gaming accessories, is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Revolution 5 Unlimited (R5U), its new premium controller that is officially licensed for PS5 consoles. Building on the success of its Revolution range among competitive and professional players since 2016, the brand is reaching a new technological milestone today by unveiling its most advanced accessory yet for PlayStation 5 consoles and PC.

The Revolution 5 Unlimited is the culmination of years of research and continuous feedback from the esports community and the most demanding competitive players. This new high-end asymmetric controller, officially licensed for PlayStation 5 consoles, includes major hardware innovations.

Framework officially launched pre-orders for its AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495-powered Desktop mini PCs on September 30, as previously announced. Launch pricing started at $6,799 for the DIY Edition with 192 GB of unified memory and no pre-installed storage. A pre-built version with a 2 TB NVMe 4.0 SSD and Fedora Linux pre-installed comes with a $7,449 price tag.

It was revealed hours before launch that the OEM would only be offering one batch of the new Desktop SKU due to limited RAM quantities. Despite the eye-watering price, the first batch of Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 mini PCs sold out within hours of the start of pre-orders. However, in a post on X, Framework confirmed that it had managed to secure another batch of RAM for the Gorgon Halo systems, and it subsequently opened a second limited batch of pre-orders, which remain available at the time of writing and are slated to start shipping in November. Framework added in a separate post on X that prices for the Framework Desktop PC will only increase in the coming months.

After teasing the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 upgrade to the Framework Destkop mini PC, Framework has officially announced that pre-orders for the SFF desktop will start on Wednesday, 30 September. The announcement came in a post on the OEM's official X account, where it also confirmed that, as is typical with its Framework Laptop upgrades, the rest of the motherboard and case will remain the same, for backwards compatibility purposes.

Currently, it is unclear how much the new AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495-powered mini PC will cost, but it'd be a safe bet to assume it will be more expensive than the current-generation Ryzen AI Max+ 395 model, especially on the high-end version, topping out at 192 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory where the 395 version tops out at 128 GB.

When ASUS first revealed the ROG Xbox Ally X20 at Computex 2026, it said that the gaming handheld would be available as a bundle with a set of Xreal R1 Edition 20 AR glasses or as a standalone handheld, but pricing and details on the standalone version were still somewhat nebulous, but ASUS has finally announced pricing and imminent pre-order availability for the X20 handheld on both its online store and on Best Buy.

The standalone handheld gets a price of $1,299.99, which is a $300 price increase over the standard ROG Xbox Ally X. The X20 Anniversary Edition is powered by the same AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU, 24 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD as the original handheld, but the flashy new smoky translucent chassis isn't the only upgrade. The Xbox Ally X20 features a new 7.4-inch, 120 Hz ROG Nebula HDR OLED display that boasts an increased 1,400 nits of peak brightness and upgraded controller ergonomics.

Update Sep 28th: The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20 has officially become available to pre-order on Best-Buy at the $1,299.99 pre-order price, and the product page also confirms October 15 as the start date for official sale and shipment.

GL.iNet, a global provider of secure and customizable networking solutions, today introduced Mango 2 (GL-MG1300), a dual-band mini travel router designed to simplify connectivity on the go. With its slim design, straightforward setup, VPN support, and multi-device connectivity, Mango 2 is designed for travelers with everyday connectivity needs, those seeking a more portable alternative to existing travel routers, and first-time users looking for an easy introduction to travel routers.

The Mango series provides an accessible entry point to GL.iNet's secure networking experience. Mango 2 creates one manageable travel Wi-Fi network, allowing users to maintain familiar network and VPN settings throughout their trip.

Rockstar has opened pre-orders for the Grand Theft Auto 6: The Goodtime State - Vice City Collection, a collector's box priced at $399.99 in the US and £349.99 in the UK. Despite how it may sound, this is not a collector's edition of the game. Rockstar's store page says GTA 6 is sold separately, so the box neither has a disc nor a download code. The collection instead has 11 items themed around Macca the Gator, a fictional TV show from the game's Leonida setting.

These include a Macca the Gator figure with a twist-open base, Oakley Frogskins sunglasses, a Leonida Keys crossbody bag, and a New Era 9FORTY snapback hat. The smaller items are a magnetic mirror, a Chunkee the Manatee shot glass, a Vice City swizzle spoon, and a razor blade-style keychain. The set also includes nine enamel pins, nine vinyl stickers, and a double-sided poster with a map of Leonida. Rockstar lists it as an adult collectible for ages 18 and up, and shipping is not free.

The Moirai have woven a long thread - after roughly a year and a half of hard Early Access labor, that thread is finally nearing its final knot. Hermes, herald of the gods, has descended to the mortal realm to announce the decision of the Pantheon: the Olympians are pleased with the efforts of hundreds of thousands of mortal adventurers, who already faced their Nemesis. In their eternal, divine greatness, they are granting us: a release date! Hermes is pleased to announce that Titan Quest II will leave Early Access and launch into full release on January 19th, 2027, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

The Titan Quest II Odyssey has been long and full of epic adventures, right from ancient Greek mythology. Guided by feedback from a vast number of heroes during Early Access, Titan Quest II has been expanded through numerous updates that added new lands to conquer, new powers to wield, and new treasures to loot along the way. The developers at Grimlore Games have forged an ARPG like no other, with its unique mastery system that offers the players an immense amount of freedom while creating their own unique heroes. Version 1.0 pulls every strand together into the complete tapestry the Moirai had planned all along - plus a fair bit more.

Valve has released SteamOS 0.3.0 for the Steam Frame, the headset's first system update since it launched on September 14. The changelog lists "substantially faster charging while unit is off / sleeping," which addresses a complaint that came up repeatedly in early reviews. The Verge tested the update and found the charging gains seem to go further than the changelog describes. Before the update, a depleted Steam Frame reportedly started charging at around 8 W and peaked at 27 W. Afterward, it starts at roughly 19 to 21 W and can reach 42 W while a game is running. Valve recommends a 45 W or faster USB-C charger, which is sold separately from the $1,059 headset.

The rest of the changelog also includes some important bits. The update improves controller tracking while haptics are active, improves stability and reliability under high load, and fixes a "garbled audio" microphone bug. The per-app Motion Smoothing "Force Always-On" setting was being ignored and should now work, and motion smoothing behavior in Half-Life: Alyx has been adjusted. For developers, Valve added Vulkan layer fixes and Mesa graphics performance work, and changed the Playable criteria to allow any resolution instead of requiring 1440p. Valve says the SteamOS update is available now for all users, but US and European purchase emails only began going out on September 18, so buyers may still have to wait a while.