This edition will cover the week from 23 March to 29 March.

What caught my attention

Epic laid off over a thousand people this week. Sweeney followed up by telling the market they’d be receiving resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality.” Fortnite still makes billions. Disney is still in, and yet. The industry has been doing this for three years straight, and it’s not getting any less grim.

TLDR

• Epic Games laid off 1,000+ workers despite billions in annual Fortnite revenue, with CEO Tim Sweeney telling the market they’d be receiving resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality.” (Polygon)

• Sony raised PS5 to $649.99 and PS5 Pro to $899.99 in the US, with a ~£90 hike in the UK, starting April 2, citing global economic pressures. (Eurogamer)

• Four Nacon subsidiaries — Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech — filed for insolvency. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• John and Brenda Romero stated that the current industry crash is worse than the 1980s recession, following the downsizing of Romero Games. (Eurogamer)

• PUBG: Blindspot ceases operations on March 30 after less than two months in early access. (GameSpot)

Full roundup

• Indie stealth game Lizard State was announced, inspired by classic PS2-era games featuring a spec-ops character crouch-walking past a guard in a sewer. (PC Gamer)

• DLSS 5’s AI-generated game enhancement received negative reception in the gaming community while V-Rally 3 on Game Boy Advance with its 16MHz processor garnered praise. (IGN)

• Epic Games laid off 1,000 workers despite billions in annual Fortnite revenue. (Polygon)

• Crimson Desert Patch 1.01 rolled out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, removing some AI-generated art, adding five new mounts, and making control and quality-of-life tweaks. (Polygon)

• Digital Extremes released a side-by-side comparison trailer for Warframe on Switch 2 versus Switch, highlighting higher resolution textures, improved lighting, DLSS support, and 60fps target. (Nintendo Life)

• Death Stranding 2’s PC port pushed sales past 2 million copies. (PC Gamer)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated the studio will solve insurance for programmer Mike with terminal brain cancer caught in the mass layoff. (PC Gamer)

• Game Freak designed Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen remakes primarily to appeal to girls and the elderly. (Polygon)

• Team Cherry released a patch for nine-year-old Hollow Knight addressing a slightly longer than intended mechanic in the final boss fight. (Eurogamer)

• Vitality swept NAVI to win BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026. (Hotspawn)

• Elder Scrolls: Blades is shutting down on mobile and Switch on June 30, with all store items now ultra-cheap. (PC Gamer)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Season 2 DLC character Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star launches in June. (Gematsu)

• Outsider AAA studios from outside traditional gaming heartlands are making epics like Black Myth: Wukong, Phantom Blade Zero, and Kingdom Come. (Polygon)

• Former Warhorse Studios translator alleges being fired to be replaced by AI. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft’s Project Helix could be better for gamers than Series X but worse for Xbox by enabling play anywhere. (PC Gamer)

• Ubisoft celebrated its 40-year anniversary on March 28, with Zombi released in 1986 as its debut game. (GameSpot)

• RPG Maker will soon allow games in the style of Octopath Traveler in its first major visual overhaul. (PC Gamer)

• Meta reportedly laid off around 700 workers across several divisions including Reality Labs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Switch 2 version of Devil May Cry 5 rated as Devil Hunter Edition by Taiwanese ratings board. (VGC)

• German games market grew 4% in 2025 to €9.4 billion driven by console hardware sales, particularly Nintendo Switch 2 launch. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Capcom released a free update for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection adding powerful Royal Monsters, with story DLC potentially arriving sooner than expected. (Eurogamer)

• LPL issued a lifetime ban to TES jungler naiyou following a match-fixing case. (Sheep Esports)

• Supergiant Games announced Hades II coming to Xbox and PlayStation on April 14, 2026, included in Xbox Game Pass. (RPG Site)

• Hades 2 console release trailer teases a new steamy scene alongside bonus content and quality-of-life improvements in the April 14 update. (PC Gamer)

• Star Wars: Zero Company features a Fire Emblem-style permadeath mode where characters can die permanently. (GameSpot)

• Overwatch revealed only 32% of players stayed loyal to Winston until the end of the Conquest event. (PC Gamer)

• John and Brenda Romero stated the current video game industry crash is worse than the 1980s recession after downsizing Romero Games. (Eurogamer)

• Sony announced price increases for PS5, PS5 Pro, and Portal starting April 2 due to global economic pressures, with the base PS5 rising around £90 in the UK. (Eurogamer)

• Sony raising PS5 to $649.99 and PS5 Pro to $899.99 in the US starting April 2. (Polygon)

• Pearl Abyss CEO confirmed Switch 2 R&D for Crimson Desert is underway as the game nears 5 million sales, with compromises required. (VGC)

• Pearl Abyss CEO sympathized with player disappointment over Crimson Desert’s story, acknowledging it could have been better. (IGN)

• Crimson Desert reached Very Positive on Steam and 3 million sales, with Pearl Abyss promising continued improvements. (PC Gamer)

• Top Esports announced the return of JackeyLove and the arrival of Tian in the jungle for LPL Split 2. (Sheep Esports)

• Team Heretics added FEBIVEN as positional coach in the LEC. (Sheep Esports)

• NLC payment issues highlight broader esports industry problems, with frequent reports of unpaid players, casters, and staff. (Esports Insider)

• Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone denied any leaks and confirmed marriage candidates won’t get hitched without player involvement. (PC Gamer)

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End confirmed for season 3 with a 2027 release window announced at Anime Japan. (Polygon)

• Path of Exile’s richest player and item trading kingpin was banned, with a plea to restore over 1,500 items, some of which can never be recreated. (PC Gamer)

• PUBG: Blindspot early access from ARC Team ceases operations on March 30 after less than two months. (GameSpot)

• Persona 4 Revival was absent from the March Xbox Partner Showcase, with no Persona 6 appearance either. (Polygon)

• Amazon’s God of War series cast a Lost and For All Mankind actress as Freya, Queen of the Valkyries. (Eurogamer)

• Sony testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store, with Stellar Blade spotted at $39.89 and $20.99 in Brazil versus the normal $69.99. (Eurogamer)

• Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Stranger Than Heaven spans five distinct time periods and five Japanese cities, confirmed to be set in the Yakuza universe. (Eurogamer)

• Pragmata’s devs created human-made assets designed to mimic the uncanny feel of LLM-generated art. (PC Gamer)

• Former Apex Legends developer was rehired by Respawn after leaving for Highguard, which shut down earlier this year. (Eurogamer)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said employers will see resumes of “once-in-a-lifetime quality” after laying off over 1,000 people. (PC Gamer)

• Fortnite layoffs included artist Vitaliy Naymushin, who designed Jonesy after 11 years at Epic. (GameSpot)

• Horizon Chase Turbo, developed by Aquiris (now owned by Epic), is being delisted in June. (PC Gamer)

• Fortnite producer asked for patience post-layoffs as the team picks up the pieces, with unknown impacts for the rest of the year and beyond. (Eurogamer)

• Saros begins with protagonist Arjun Devraj waking on an alien planet, similar in setup to Returnal’s Selene Vassos on Atropos. (GameSpot)

• Pro World of Warcraft player disconnected mid-fight in the Midnight world first race after forgetting to use a WoW token to renew his subscription. (PC Gamer)

• Infamous WoW guild exploited their way to a world first in the Midnight raid until Blizzard voided their instant 300 million damage. (PC Gamer)

• Unity beat Q1 financial estimates, powering upcoming titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Peak, and Replaced. (IGN)

• Wuthering Waves coming to Xbox as a Play Anywhere title in July with Game Pass subscriber perks. (RPG Site)

• Capcom patching Alex’s storyline in Street Fighter 6 after fan outcry over incest references involving his second cousin and step-sister Patricia. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft hosted the March 2026 Xbox Partner Preview showcasing third-party partners. (IGN)

• Meta Quest usage reached an all-time high in 2025 with over 100 titles generating more than $1 million in gross revenue, despite studio closures and layoffs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Mega Man DLC pack released for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds including two racers, a new car, track, and music. (VGC)

• Minecraft’s Tiny Takeover update overhauled baby mobs, with product manager Anna Lundgren saying nothing is off the table for future drops. (GameSpot)

• War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius shuts down in Japan on May 28, a year after the global server closure. (RPG Site)

• SaGa series illustrator Satoshi Kuramochi left Square Enix in February 2026 to go freelance. (RPG Site)

• LFL secured at least one spot for the Esports World Cup EMEA Qualifier. (Sheep Esports)

• Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed a new trailer for Stranger Than Heaven at the March 2026 Xbox Partner Preview. (IGN)

• Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish announced at Xbox Partner Showcase for Summer 2027, set in the World of Darkness. (Eurogamer)

• AdHoc Studio bringing Dispatch to Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Cloud this summer as a Play Anywhere title. (Eurogamer)

• GSC Game World announced the Stalker 2: Cost of Hope expansion for Summer 2026 at Xbox Partner Showcase, set at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Eurogamer)

• Devolver Digital and Behavior Interactive announced Serious Sam: Shatterverse, a co-op roguelite FPS for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. (Eurogamer)

• Neuralink patient raiding World of Warcraft hands-free after 100 days with the implant installed calls it pure magic. (PC Gamer)

• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream demo released with a robust character creator, and Nintendo’s strict media sharing rules are already being tested. (IGN)

• Donkey Kong Bananza uses a smart approach to 3D asset recycling. (Game Developer)

• Disney committed to building a games and entertainment universe with Epic Games inside Fortnite, despite the layoffs. (GameSpot)

• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director defended DLSS 5, saying no haters will stop it and calling it an uncanny beginning. (PC Gamer)

• Four Nacon subsidiaries including Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech filed for insolvency. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Chainsaw Man chapter 232 concluded the manga with 1.1 million views on Manga Plus, surpassing One Piece. (Polygon)

• Pokémon Champions director Masaaki Hoshino discussed the fighting game spirit behind the competitive battler. (VGC)

• Marathon sold roughly 1.2 million copies worldwide, with the majority on Steam rather than PlayStation per analyst estimates. (Eurogamer)

• Team17 parent Everplay reported flat revenue but a 10% gross profit increase for 2025. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Peter Molyneux’s Masters of Albion enters Steam early access April 22, with closed beta registration closing soon. (Eurogamer)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder updated to version 1.2.0 with tweaks for the Switch 2 Edition. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon Champions development director wants turn-based battles to continue forever, amid the Legends: Z-A real-time shift. (GameSpot)

• Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition patch in mid-April improves input lag, rewind, and save data. (Nintendo Life)

• Forza Horizon 6 PC system requirements revealed with modest specs, launching May 19. (IGN)

• Marvel Rivals confirmed for Switch 2 by Marvel Games executive producer Danny Koo. (Nintendo Life)

• YellOwStaR appointed as France’s ENC 2026 National Team Manager. (Sheep Esports)

• New claims of discrimination in the ERL League of Legends esports scene from a pro player post. (Sheep Esports)

• Warframe now available for Switch 2. (Gematsu)

• CoD: Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 3 launches April 2 with new maps, guns, a new Verdansk POI, Zombies map, and free Endgame mode. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon Pokopia player recreated Breath of the Wild’s Rito Village and Divine Beast Vah Medoh in-game. (Nintendo Life)

• Nintendo setting digital prices lower than physical for Switch 2 first-party exclusives starting with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book at $59.99 digital and $69.99 physical. (Nintendo Life)

• CI Games and Hexworks released a Lords of the Fallen II Umbral Gameplay trailer. (Gematsu)

• Mewgenics confirmed for Switch 2 and PS5 one month after its PC launch on Steam. (Eurogamer)

• Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege REDACTED event runs March 25 to April 8 with a stealth gameplay twist. (Hotspawn)

• Pokémon Champions getting a free update for Switch 2 at launch. (Nintendo Life)

• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Welcome Version demo available now, with save transfer confirmed for the full game. (Eurogamer)

• Mario Wonder’s Switch 2 Edition features Bellabel Park with multiplayer challenges and solo content. (VGC)

• Bungie shifting Marathon endgame content so players won’t be forced to choose between ranked and Cryo Archive weekend queues. (Eurogamer)

• Cygames ending Shadowverse service on PC and mobile on June 30, 2026, after ten years, with crystal and card bundle sales now ceased. (Siliconera)

• Pokémon Pokopia’s second limited-time event adds Sableye in late April. (Eurogamer)

• Half-Life 2 writer Erik Wolpaw stated some at Valve are looking at AI tools but he is not worried. (PC Gamer)

• Pokémon Champions boosts Mega Meganium, vindicating Chikorita from Gold and Silver in competitive play. (Polygon)

• Genshin Impact Luna VI update on April 8 adds character Linnea and new Monstadt locations including Temple of Space. (Siliconera)

• Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok ‘Meet the Crew: Eustace’ trailer released. (Gematsu)

• Persona 6 and Persona 4 Revival remained absent from Atlus’s 2026 plans shown at the Xbox Partner Showcase. (Polygon)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate Gold Edition released on Switch eShop, bundling the base game with the Casey Jones expansion and Metalhead DLC. (Nintendo Life)

• Gotcha Gotcha Games released a teaser trailer for a new RPG Maker project. (Gematsu)

• Saros gameplay shown for three hours covering the opening area, shield mechanics, weapons, exploration, eclipse events, and a boss fight. (GameSpot)

This edition covers March 22nd to March 29th.

What caught my attention

Claude 4.6 is still the best model I use daily. But the recent outages, token limit adjustments, and quiet policy shifts are adding up - and I’m not the only one noticing.

There’s a specific kind of frustration that comes from a tool you rely on daily becoming less reliable while getting more restrictive.

Anthropic is clearly under pressure: IPO timeline, Pentagon lawsuits, subscriber growth pulling at infrastructure. Something has to give. I’m not switching yet... But I’m watching the next wave of Chinese open-source models more closely than I was a month ago.

TLDR

• Sora is dead — OpenAI is shutting down its flagship video product. App closes in April, API in September. A $1B Disney deal goes with it. (The Verge)

• Claude Mythos leaked — A data breach exposed a new Anthropic model with dramatically higher benchmark scores than any previous Opus. Anthropic confirmed it exists. (The Decoder)

• SoftBank’s $40B loan points to OpenAI IPO — JPMorgan and Goldman backed a 12-month unsecured bridge loan for SoftBank’s OpenAI stake. The structure only makes sense with a 2026 IPO on the horizon. (TechCrunch AI)

• AI sycophancy confirmed in Science — Models agree with users 50% more than humans do, making people less likely to reconsider or apologise. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic vs. the Pentagon — A judge blocked the DoD’s supply chain ban on Anthropic tools. Separately, Anthropic is in active talks with the Pentagon on autonomous weapons. Fighting and negotiating simultaneously. (The Verge / Bloomberg)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Anthropic confirmed that a leaked model (Claude Mythos) marks a step change in reasoning capabilities, following a data breach that revealed its existence. (The Decoder)

• Google released Gemini 3.1 Flash Live across its products, a real-time multimodal voice model built for low-latency audio, video, and tool use. (Google AI Blog)

• Google introduced Gemini API Agent Skill to close the knowledge gap AI models have about their own post-training SDK updates. (The Decoder)

• Cohere released an open-source speech recognition model that outperforms OpenAI’s Whisper and other competitors on benchmarks. (The Decoder)

• Mistral released Voxtral TTS, an open-source speech generation model compact enough to run on a smartwatch or smartphone. (TechCrunch AI)

• Meta researchers developed hyperagents — AI systems that can solve tasks and simultaneously improve their own learning mechanisms. (The Decoder)

• A Science study found AI models agree with users 50% more than humans do, making users less likely to apologise or reconsider their positions. (The Decoder)

Products & Tools

• OpenAI is shutting down Sora: the app closes April 2026, the API in September, with focus shifting to coding and enterprise products. (The Verge)

• OpenAI halted “Adult Mode” erotic chatbot development indefinitely after pushback from advisors, investors, and employees. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI added a plugin marketplace to Codex, including skills, app integrations, and MCP bundles — closing some of the gap with Claude Code. (Ars Technica)

• Apple’s iOS 27 will let users link Siri to third-party AI chatbots like Gemini or Claude, directly from the App Store. (The Verge)

• Google Gemini added tools to import memories and chat history from ChatGPT and Claude via simple prompts. (The Decoder)

• Suno released v5.5 with Voices, My Taste, and Custom Models, giving users more control over AI music generation. (The Verge)

• Bluesky launched Attie, an AI app using the atproto protocol to build custom feeds. (TechCrunch AI)

• TikTok’s AI ad disclosure policy failed to label generative AI content in Samsung promotions, exposing gaps in synthetic ad detection. (The Verge)

• Wikipedia updated policies to restrict AI-generated content in article writing. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Meta raised its El Paso, Texas AI data center investment from $1.5B to $10B, targeting 1GW of capacity by 2028. (CNBC)

• Meta funded seven new natural gas-fired plants to power its Louisiana data center. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Data center expansions are triggering global conflicts over power grids, utility bills, communities, and environmental impact. (The Verge)

• A Kentucky woman turned down a $26M offer for her land as AI infrastructure pushback grows. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia and Arm highlighted CPUs’ renewed importance in the AI era, with Nvidia showcasing its Vera CPU at GTC. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google’s TurboQuant memory compression technique triggered a selloff in SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron shares — though analysts pushed back on the threat. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google’s TurboQuant named specifically: CNBC tracked the same selloff across the three major memory chip stocks. (CNBC)

• Nvidia saw its first bout of retail investor selling since July amid a broader shift away from the AI rally. (Bloomberg Technology)

• AI adoption is pushing businesses to treat a secondary internet connection as a critical infrastructure requirement. (Light Reading)

• Physical Intelligence, founded by ex-DeepMind researchers, is in talks for $1B in funding at an $11B valuation for general-purpose robot AI. (Bloomberg Technology)

Regulation & Policy

• EU regulators proposed banning AI nudification apps — including Grok — from generating unauthorized sexually explicit content. (Social Media Today)

• Anthropic won a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon’s supply chain risk ban on its AI tools. (The Verge)

• Anthropic is separately in active discussions with the Pentagon over the future of AI in autonomous weapons. (Bloomberg Technology)

• David Sacks stepped down as Trump’s AI czar but stays on the White House Technology committee. (TechCrunch AI)

• Beijing launched a review of Meta’s Manus acquisition, raising concerns for Chinese founders using Singapore entities to sidestep scrutiny. (CNBC)

• Krach Institute CEO Michelle Giuda argued the US should rely on allied nations to back the American AI tech stack against China. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Meta’s Oversight Board warned that Community Notes are too slow and understaffed to counter AI disinformation at scale. (The Decoder)

Business & Funding

• SoftBank secured a $40B unsecured 12-month loan from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to fund its OpenAI stake — widely read as pointing to a 2026 IPO. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic is considering an IPO as soon as October, putting it in direct competition with OpenAI for public market timing. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI and Anthropic’s revenue figures are hard to compare ahead of their IPOs due to different cloud partnership accounting methods. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic’s Claude paid subscriptions more than doubled this year, with consumer user estimates now at 18–30 million. (TechCrunch AI)

• Eli Lilly signed a $2.75B deal with Insilico Medicine for AI-discovered drugs, with $115M upfront. (CNBC)

• Shield AI raised $2B and plans to acquire simulation software maker Aechelon for autonomous military drones, with Ukraine among its government clients. (NYT)

• Elon Musk’s last remaining xAI co-founder reportedly departed, leaving just two of the original 11. (TechCrunch AI)

• Moonshot AI is exploring a Hong Kong IPO as AI stocks continue to climb. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Pony AI reported its first profitable quarter and plans to expand robotaxis to 20 cities. (Bloomberg Technology)

• An ex-Coatue trader launched a hedge fund powered by Eve, an AI system handling day-to-day operations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• BNP Paribas plans to deploy an AI companion for all staff to cut costs bank-wide. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Anthropic reportedly views itself as the antidote to OpenAI’s approach to AI safety, rooted in early internal conflicts at OpenAI. (The Decoder)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic’s second Economic Index found that longer Claude usage improves user outcomes — but risks widening economic inequality between skilled and unskilled users. (The Decoder)

• Meta suffered two courtroom losses over allegations it knew about product harms, raising fresh concerns for AI research and consumer safety. (CNBC)

• CBS News poll found rising AI awareness is directly linked to public expectations of fewer available jobs. (CBS News)

• The CEOs of Coca-Cola and Walmart both cited incoming AI waves as a factor in their departures. (CNBC)

• Bloomberg’s senior editor compared the AI boom to the 1990s internet surge, noting key elements still missing from the current wave. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Goldman’s new adviser Rishi Sunak urged small UK firms to adopt AI at a Birmingham event, warning of the cost of ignoring it. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Google AI Blog published a conversation between James Manyika and LL COOL J on AI and creativity. (Google AI Blog)

What caught my attention

Nvidia had a strange week.

Jensen Huang took the GTC stage, projected $1 trillion in AI chip sales, and spent part of his keynote on OpenClaw before announcing NemoClaw, a reference stack to make it enterprise-ready.

The gentleman who made billions selling shovels is now paving the road to the gold mine. Maybe the “AI commodity threat” is real, after all? :)

Meanwhile, DLSS 5 was announced, and gamers hated it (See my Patch Notes #64). Uncanny visuals, developer pushback. Strange place to be for a company that used to be the unambiguous hero of PC gaming - before crypto made their cards unaffordable, before AI made them a Wall Street story. The original fanbase got priced out somewhere along the way.

Both things happened in the same week. That’s the Nvidia Arc in miniature.

TLDR

• Nvidia GTC: Jensen Huang projected $1 trillion in AI chip sales through 2027, announced NemoClaw as an enterprise-ready open-source stack for OpenClaw, and declared every company needs an agentic AI strategy. (TechCrunch AI)

• Chinese AI company MiniMax released M2.7, which reportedly participated in its own development through autonomous optimization loops. (The Decoder)

• Google revamped Stitch into a full AI design platform with infinite canvas, voice interaction, and MCP integration with Claude Code and Cursor — free tier, Figma exports. Figma shares dropped 8%. (Winbuzzer)

• The US Defense Department established Palantir’s Maven AI system as a program of record for integration into combat operations. (Bloomberg Technology).

  NOTE: new Terminator script looking mighty fine.

• OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT. (CNBC Tech)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Chinese AI company MiniMax released M2.7, which reportedly participated in its own development through autonomous optimization loops. (The Decoder)

• Xiaomi launched three MiMo AI models to power AI agents, robots, and voice capabilities that can control software and shop in browsers. (The Decoder)

• Qualcomm AI Research developed a modular system compressing reasoning chains by 2.4x for on-device language models. (The Decoder)

• Andrej Karpathy reported an autonomous agent optimized his training setup overnight, finding improvements missed despite his two decades of experience. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki now uses AI for experiments that previously took a week, though he does not trust it for designing complex systems. (The Decoder)

• Terence Tao stated AI reduces idea generation cost in mathematics to near zero but shifts the bottleneck to verification, requiring new infrastructure. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI is refocusing research on building a fully automated AI researcher agent for complex problems. (MIT Tech Review)

Products & Tools

• Cursor released Composer 2, its second-generation AI model for software development built on Chinese open-source Kimi K2.5 to match leading models at lower costs. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI published a prompting playbook to help front-end designers achieve better results from GPT-5.4 when building websites and apps while preventing fallback to generic designs. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and Atlas browser into a single desktop superapp after deeming its multi-product strategy flawed. (The Decoder)

• Gemini’s new task automation feature on Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S26 Ultra enables the AI to use a limited subset of apps like food delivery and rideshare services. (The Verge AI)

• Adobe expanded Firefly to bundle over 30 AI models and allow training custom styles on user images. (The Decoder)

• WordPress.com introduced AI agents that can write and publish posts. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google expanded Universal Commerce Protocol with shopping cart, catalog, and loyalty features for AI agents. (The Decoder)

• Google pulled back on browser AI development as coding agents gain preference in industry. (The Decoder)

• Google revamped Stitch into a full AI design platform with infinite canvas, voice interaction, and MCP integration with Claude Code and Cursor — free with 350 monthly generations, exports to Figma. Figma shares dropped 8% on the news. (Winbuzzer)

• OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT. (CNBC Tech)

• OpenAI’s first online shopping attempt with Instant Checkout faced inaccuracies in item information and merchant onboarding difficulties with partners like Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify. (CNBC Tech)

• Walmart’s test showed ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than its own website. (MarTech)

• Microsoft reduced Copilot AI entry points on Windows in apps like Photos, Widgets, and Notepad. (TechCrunch AI)

• OpenAI acquired Astral, maker of popular Python developer tools, for its Codex AI coding platform. (The Decoder)

• iNaturalist app identifies plant, animal, and insect species while providing data to scientists on biodiversity, species decline, and habitat loss. (CBS News Tech)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Elon Musk announced Terafab, a chip plant in Austin jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX to produce chips at scale for robotics, AI, and space-based data centers. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a GTC keynote projecting $1 trillion in AI chip sales through 2027 and declaring every company needs an OpenClaw strategy. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia’s GTC conference demonstrated industry confidence despite investor fears of an AI bubble, with Wall Street remaining unconvinced. (TechCrunch AI)

• Nvidia struck a multi-year deal with AWS to deliver around one million AI processors by end of 2027, including GPUs, networking, and inference chips. (Capacity Global)

• AWS invited a tour of its Trainium chip lab following a $50 billion investment announcement in OpenAI. (TechCrunch AI)

• SoftBank plans a massive AI data center on federally owned land in Ohio powered by $33 billion in natural gas-fired electricity by end of decade. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Alibaba shipped 470,000 AI chips and predicts $100 billion in future cloud and AI revenue. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Bezos-backed Blue Origin filed for approval to place data centers in space. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Data centers are forcing utilities to adopt a new playbook for renewable energy deployment amid mounting pressure. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Power shortages for AI data centers create investment opportunities in energy tech. (TechCrunch AI)

• Saudi Arabia’s Edarat secured a data center contract from a major regional bank and was selected for AI data center design and supervision services. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Supermicro co-founder resigned from board after China GPU smuggling charge involving $2.5 billion in servers, with shares down 33%. (Data Center Dynamics)

• OpenAI outlined a more tempered infrastructure strategy, moving away from an ambitious Nvidia agreement ahead of a potential IPO. (CNBC Tech)

Regulation & Policy

• The Trump administration released AI guidelines recommending federal preemption of state laws, innovation focus, and shifting child safety burden to parents. (TechCrunch AI)

• The US Defense Department established Palantir’s Maven AI system as a program of record for integration into combat operations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• The Department of Defense alleged Anthropic could manipulate models during war, which company executives denied as impossible. (Wired AI)

• Democratic senators Warren and Blumenthal queried Nvidia’s $20 billion licensing deal with Groq for potential antitrust violations. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Palantir doubled down on AI for battlefield advantage at its developer conference amid business growth. (Wired AI)

• Europe shows high AI adoption and talent matching the US but relies on foreign platforms due to infrastructure, regulation, and funding gaps. (The Decoder)

Business & Funding

• OpenAI plans to almost double its headcount by end of 2026 to compete with Anthropic and Google. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Alibaba and Tencent lost $66 billion in market value after failing to outline clear AI profit visions. (Bloomberg Technology)

• xAI is sending engineers to prospective corporate client offices to win business from OpenAI and Anthropic. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Uber invested $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of its bet on AI. (AI Business)

• AI startup Yotta Data Services seeks $4 billion valuation ahead of IPO, operating India’s largest Nvidia AI processor cluster. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Chinese robot maker Unitree Robotics filed for a $610 million IPO in Shanghai. (Bloomberg Technology)

Society & Culture

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated he would be deeply alarmed if a $500K developer spent less than $250K on AI tokens. (The Decoder)

• AI tokens are being considered as a potential new pillar of engineering compensation alongside salary. (TechCrunch AI)

• Tech workers at companies compete on leaderboards to maximize AI usage, incurring large bills. (NYT Technology)

• Companies are using AI as a reason for layoffs amid complex truths. (NYT Technology)

• A survey found 95% of UK students use generative AI, with experiences divided between deepening learning and replacing independent thinking. (The Decoder)

• Studies show public resistance to AI despite corporate enthusiasm for deployment. (The Verge AI)

• FedEx began delivering AI literacy training to over 400,000 workers worldwide. (CNBC Tech)

• DoorDash launched a Tasks app where gig workers are paid to record videos of tasks like laundry and eggs to train AI. (Wired AI)

• AI tools like Claude are assisting Americans in filing taxes by navigating the US tax system. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Crimson Desert developer apologized for using AI-generated art in the game, stating it was intended to be replaced before release. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia’s DLSS 5 AI upscaling technology received criticism from gamers for uncanny visuals. (Wired AI)

• Director Valerie Veatch discussed her experience with OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video model and artist communities sharing AI creations. (The Verge AI)

• Yale Budget Lab’s Executive Director discussed how 19th-century novels documenting the industrial revolution inform potential societal impacts of the AI revolution. (Bloomberg Technology)

This edition will cover the week from 16 March to 22 March.

What caught my attention

Jeff Kaplan revealed The Legend of California eleven days ago. Gold Rush survival shooter, new studio Kintsugiyama, published by Dreamhaven. There was a 5-hour Lex Fridman sit-down, a short trailer, and then a 10-hour dev stream where the team just played an early, openly buggy build and talked it through. No cinematic trailer event. No countdown clock.

It felt very chill/natural. It worked. But let’s be honest - it worked because it’s Jeff Kaplan and friends. Twenty years of community trust don’t come with a template. The candid approach is worth admiring. It’s not worth copying if you don’t have the audience to make silence feel like mystique.

TLDR

• Crimson Desert launched to 2 million copies in 24 hours, Received Mixed Steam reviews, sparked an AI art scandal, faced controls backlash, and had an exec who compared learning the game to riding a bike. (PC Gamer)

• Savvy Games Group agreed to acquire Moonton Games for $6 billion, five years after ByteDance paid $4 billion for it. (Game Developer)

• NVIDIA announced DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 to strong backlash — some developers learned of it at the same time as the public, and Jensen Huang called the critics completely wrong. (GameSpot)

• GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 attendance dropped 30% to 20,000 visitors. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Slay the Spire 2 players left over 9,000 negative Steam reviews in one day over a card nerf that had not even gone live yet. (PC Gamer)

Biggest releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Crimson Desert launched to 2 million copies sold in under 24 hours across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with Pearl Abyss promising to work quickly on improvements. (PC Gamer)

• Pearl Abyss launched a comprehensive audit of all in-game assets after admitting undisclosed AI-generated images were found in the final release. (IGN)

• Crimson Desert players reported clunky controls and filed launch day refund requests. (Eurogamer)

• Nvidia announced DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 with AI-powered per-pixel lighting and material properties, to strong backlash. (GameSpot)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang responded to DLSS 5 backlash, stating critics are completely wrong. (IGN)

• Capcom and Ubisoft developers said they found out about the DLSS 5 announcement at the same time as the public. (PC Gamer)

• Former Overwatch boss Jeff Kaplan advised gamers who complain about games they’ll never play to shut the f*** up, saying no one cares. (IGN)

• Jeff Kaplan revealed he warned Blizzard that the cancelled MMO Titan was heading for disaster before its shutdown. (Eurogamer)

• Mojang announced Minecraft Dungeons 2, Minecraft World, Tiny Takeover and other titles at Minecraft Live March 2026. (IGN)

• Minecraft Dungeons 2 is coming this fall. (GameSpot)

• Slay the Spire 2’s first major post-launch patch includes a large balance pass, new art and VFX, and a Phobia Mode to make infinites harder. (IGN)

• Slay the Spire 2 players left over 9,000 negative Steam reviews in one day over a card nerf that had not even gone live yet, with China’s Steam restrictions possibly a factor. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo is launching a Switch 2 revision in Europe with a user-replaceable battery to comply with EU consumer law. (Eurogamer)

• Savvy Games Group agreed to acquire Moonton Games for $6 billion, after ByteDance paid $4 billion for the company in 2021. (Game Developer)

• Saudi Arabia firm EGDC now holds a 5% stake in Capcom, with the Public Investment Fund holding another 5% since 2022. (Game Developer)

• Capcom confirmed Resident Evil Requiem passed 6 million sales, making it the fastest-selling game in the series, with extra content planned. (VGC)

• Ubisoft shifted Red Storm Entertainment to a tech support role and laid off 105 developers. (Eurogamer)

• Crystal Dynamics eliminated another 20 roles including development and operations staff. (Game Developer)

• Team Liquid was hit by new layoffs seven months after its previous wave, with staff departures confirmed via social media. (Sheep Esports)

• GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 attendance dropped 30% to 20,000 visitors. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Bethesda boss Todd Howard said he was “really, really sorry” to see Phil Spencer retire and commented on incoming CEO Asha Sharma. (GameSpot)

• Todd Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement has made him rethink what he publicly commits to, suggesting players should “pretend we didn’t announce it.” (IGN)

• Starfield is coming to PS5 on April 7 alongside the Free Lanes update and story DLC Terran Armada. (Gematsu)

• Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick dismissed the idea that AI can generate hit games at the push of a button as laughable. (GameSpot)

• Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said he is not interested in putting ads into premium games, calling it unfair to paying players. (PC Gamer)

• Delaware Court of Chancery ruled Krafton breached its transaction agreement and ordered the reinstatement of the ousted Unknown Worlds CEO. (Game Developer)

• Subnautica 2 is approved for early access release in May following the latest court ruling, with more story chapters, creatures, and biomes. (GameSpot)

• Epic CEO Tim Sweeney purchased 50,000 acres of forest in North Carolina and donated it, making it the largest private land donation in the state’s history. (PC Gamer)

• Epic and Google settled their legal dispute, with Fortnite returning to Google Play worldwide. (Game Developer)

• IO Interactive canceled a planned Hitman crossover mission for MindsEye after concluding its publishing deal with Build A Rocket Boy. (GameSpot)

• Balatro publisher Playstack reported a hit ratio of over 85%, with its portfolio including Abiotic Factor and VOID/BREAKER. (Game Developer)

• Finji CEO Rebekah Saltsman said indies are in a survival era, with funding partners treating $250,000 game budgets as insufficiently profitable. (PC Gamer)

• CD Projekt Red confirmed it has established the foundations of a new franchise codenamed Hadar after years of exploratory development. (Eurogamer)

• Pragmata hands-on preview after nearly three hours confirmed the full gameplay loop as part of Capcom’s 2026 slate. (RPG Site)

• Pragmata features giant robot kaiju boss battles where the player hacks, then shoots. (PC Gamer)

• Resident Evil series executive producer Jun Takeuchi marked the franchise’s 30th anniversary by thanking fans and promising more to come. (Eurogamer)

• Toby Fox confirmed Deltarune Chapter 5 development is mostly complete, outside bugs and translation, with professional testing starting April 1. (Nintendo Life)

• CyberConnect2 Vice President Taichiro Miyazaki described .hack//Z.E.R.O. as a brand new entry designed to be the studio’s defining game, discussed at GDC 2026. (RPG Site)

• Neowiz confirmed the Lies of P franchise has surpassed 4 million units sold globally. (RPG Site)

• Blizzard acknowledged that Diablo 4’s constant changes make it hard for players to keep up, and said obsolete systems will be reworked or fixed. (GameSpot)

• World of Warcraft: Midnight’s class balancing approach risks repeating a long-running mistake from Final Fantasy XIV. (PC Gamer)

• Half Sword developer addressed the gap between the early access game and its tech demo, saying the final version will differ from what has been shown previously, amid Mixed Steam reviews. (PC Gamer)

• Sandfall Interactive developers admitted no one on the team believed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would reach a 92 Metacritic score when they made bets on the outcome. (Polygon)

• Actor Charlie Cox said Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 opened new professional avenues and confirmed another video game project is in the works. (Eurogamer)

• Counter-Strike 2 changed gun reload mechanics to add more risk to the process. (Polygon)

• Helldivers 2’s first content roadmap for its 6.1 update includes new Illuminate enemies, a new mission type, and the Entrenched Division Warbond. (GameSpot)

• Death Stranding 2 is getting a major update for PC and PS5 including a new difficulty mode and live-action cutscenes timed to the PC release. (VGC)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder updated to Version 1.1.0 with amiibo support, Polish language, and readiness for the Switch 2 Edition and DLC launching March 26. (Nintendo Life)

• Peglin added a fourth act and a final boss nearly two years after hitting 1.0. (PC Gamer)

• Bungie built a literal maths test to help players understand Marathon’s complicated competitive mode. (PC Gamer)

• Marathon’s fourth map Cryo Archive was released as a limited weekend unlock following a puzzle ARG. (Eurogamer)

• Fortnite Unreal Editor received Star Wars assets including Luke Skywalker and Tatooine locations for UEFN creators. (Polygon)

• Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness arrived on Switch 2 via Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. (GameSpot)

• A Pokémon FireRed save file was lost on Switch 2. (Polygon)

• Game Boy Advance turns 25, with 81.5 million units sold and its library now available on Switch. (Eurogamer)

• Marvel Heroes has player-run servers more than 8 years after its November 2017 shutdown. (PC Gamer)

• A silksong player discovered a hidden version of act 1 boss The Last Judge and immediately identified why Team Cherry likely cut it: Hornet is too short for one of the new attacks to connect. (PC Gamer)

• Persona 5: The Phantom X version 3.4 adds a Persona 5 Royal crossover featuring Kasumi Yoshizawa and Jose in a new mini-game event. (RPG Site)

• Solo dev behind Tangy TD earned over $250,000 in a week following its early March Steam launch after four years of development. (PC Gamer)

• Street Fighter 6 added free collab DLC with Mega Man Star Force and Battle Network alongside returning character Alex. (Nintendo Life)

• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves DLC character Blue Mary launches March 26. (Gematsu)

• Niantic Spatial is using Pokémon Go movement data to train delivery robots, noting that getting Pikachu to run realistically is structurally the same problem. (IGN)

• Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks believes the video game industry needs to rethink its approach. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• ESRB confirmed US game age ratings will not change to factor in paid random items the way PEGI has in Europe, citing potential confusion. (Eurogamer)

• Generative AI in game development, navigating IP, regulation, and reputational risk, is discussed by Perkins Coie attorney Ali Mirsaidi at GDC. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• G2 Esports swept BNK FearX 3-0 to reach the First Stand 2026 semifinals, ending a 1,979-day title drought. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot’s Global Head of LoL Esports Chris Greeley discussed First Stand learnings, US Worlds visa issues, and giving CBLOL an additional Worlds slot. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot denied reports that the LEC Berlin studio could shut down in 2027 in favor of fully online production, confirming it will remain in Berlin while exploring limited remote play. (Sheep Esports)

• Esports World Cup Club Championship 2026 announced a $30 million prize pool with a cap on solo competitions and a new protest system. (Hotspawn)

• DRX announced a strategic naming partnership with Kiwoom Securities via MOU signed at DRX Seoul Tower. (Hotspawn)

• ZYB Esport remains in the LFL as a guest taking over the BK ROG Esports slot, with TLN Pirates securing a permanent spot. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot detailed new Legends, mechanics, and other features for Riftbound’s third set Unleashed, launching April 10 in China and May 8 in English. (IGN)

• Digimon Story: Time Stranger expansion DLC is planned for 2027. (RPG Site)

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising version 2.60 update was announced, including a new DLC character. (Gematsu)

• Vampire Survivors deck-building spin-off Vampire Crawlers has a release date next month. (Eurogamer)

• Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy, a three-versus-three team boss battle arena game, launches March 24 for iOS. (Gematsu)

• Lords of the Fallen 2023 surpassed 2.5 million units sold. (Gematsu)

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits is releasing on Switch 2 this month. (Eurogamer)

• Shenmue III Enhanced is coming to Switch 2 with a physical release. (Vooks)

• THQ Nordic announced Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Destroy All Humans!, and Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed for Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Splatoon 3 updated to Version 11.1.0 with balance and matchmaking adjustments. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Mega Shine expansion features shiny Pokémon including Mega Gengar ex and Mega Charizard ex. (Nintendo Life)

• New Cyberpunk TCG became the most-funded TCG game in Kickstarter history. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Amazon laid off more employees in a broader organizational restructuring affecting the Lost Ark team. (PC Gamer)

• Bandai Namco released a two-minute gameplay trailer for Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online. (Gematsu)

• River City Saga: Journey to the West official website opened, detailing story, systems, and characters. (Gematsu)

• PICROSS S KONAMI ANTIQUES edition was announced for Switch. (Gematsu)

• Dragon Quest X is getting a Gemini-powered AI slime companion called Chatty Slimey. (PC Gamer)

Thanks for reading, until next time :)

This edition will cover the week from 9 March to 15 March.

What caught my attention

Elon Musk built xAI fast and loud, and now he’s admitting it wasn’t built right. The restructuring, the co-founders’ exits, and now the poaching from Cursor - it all traces back to the same roots: “move fast and break things” (a Silicon Valley favourite) and… ego.

This is fine when the stakes are low. But when you have billions of dollars engaged in computing, a war with OpenAI and Google, and a defence sector watching closely - that’s a whole other ball game.

TLDR

• xAI full restructuring — Musk admitting the company wasn’t built right, co-founders gone, and Cursor execs brought in signals deeper structural rot than a typical pivot. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic vs. the Pentagon Electric Boogaloo Part 2 — The US War Department calling Claude an ethical liability while Palantir keeps using it anyway is the most revealing AI/defense tension of the year so far. (The Decoder)

• ChatGPT is losing ground fast — Market share dropped from 75.7% to 61.7% while Gemini went from 5.7% to 24.4%. The “default AI” position is no longer locked in. (The Decoder)

• China’s OpenClaw surge — Usage exceeding the US, government subsidies for one-person companies, Alibaba deploying it in minutes. The agentic race has a geography now. (CNBC Tech)

• Cursor at $50 billion — An AI coding tool in talks for a $50B valuation while xAI is raiding it for talent. Ironic. (Bloomberg Technology)

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• Princeton’s OpenClaw-RL framework converts live signals from chats, terminal commands, and GUI actions into continuous training data for AI agents, enabling improvements from a few dozen interactions. (The Decoder)

• Google DeepMind introduced Aletheia, an AI agent for autonomous professional research that iteratively generates, verifies, and revises solutions. (MarkTechPost)

• xAI’s Grok 4.20 set a new hallucination record low but trailed Gemini and GPT-5.4 in benchmarks by a wide margin. (The Decoder)

• Meta postponed its AI model Avocado after internal tests showed it lagging behind Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. (The Decoder)

• Former Anthropic researchers launched Mirendil, an AI startup targeting scientific research in biology and materials science, seeking a $1 billion valuation. (The Decoder)

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) and AI Agent Skills compared across setup, task execution, and behavioral guidance for LLMs interacting with tools. (MarkTechPost)

• Analysis of the current AI phase and likely next developments in human-AI work by Ethan Mollick. Note: highly recommend his book “Co-Intelligence”. (One Useful Thing)

Products & Tools

• Anthropic launched a beta feature for Claude to generate interactive charts, diagrams, and visualizations inline in conversations. (The Decoder)

• Perplexity launched Personal Computer, a $200/month AI agent handling emails, presentations, and app control around the clock. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft launched Copilot Health, an AI assistant integrating wearables, medical records, and lab results for personalized health advice. (The Decoder)

• Google launched Ask Maps in Google Maps, using Gemini for plain-language place searches and revamped 3D navigation. (The Decoder)

• X enabled Grok users to generate video incorporating up to seven input images. (Social Media Today)

• LangChain released Deep Agents, a structured runtime for planning, memory, and context isolation in multi-step AI agents. (MarkTechPost)

• Garry Tan released gstack, an open-source Claude Code system with eight workflow skills for planning, code review, QA, and shipping, backed by persistent browser runtime. (MarkTechPost)

• OpenAI plans to integrate Sora video AI into ChatGPT. (The Decoder)

• Bumble announced AI dating assistant Bee for compatibility-based matching beyond swiping. (TechCrunch AI)

• Genspark launched Claw AI assistant using dedicated cloud computers as a secure OpenClaw alternative. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• Google released a breakdown of differences between its three Nano Banana image generation models, with Nano Banana 2 offering 95% of Pro capabilities plus web search. (The Decoder)

• Google and Samsung rolled out Gemini task automation on S26 and Pixel 10 for apps including food delivery and rideshare. (The Verge AI)

• Alibaba launched a mobile app to install and deploy OpenClaw within minutes. (Bloomberg Technology)

• LinkedIn published a guide on optimizing post content for AI chatbots to improve visibility in AI-generated answers. (Social Media Today)

• Bespoke AI models are emerging for filmmaking, moving beyond general image and video generators. (The Verge AI)

• Google uses old news reports and LLMs to convert qualitative data into quantitative inputs for flash flood prediction. (TechCrunch AI)

Infrastructure & Compute

• Nvidia and Nebius partnered to develop a hyperscale AI cloud, with Nvidia investing $2 billion for 5GW deployment by 2030. (Capacity Global)

• AWS partnered with Cerebras for AI inference disaggregation to be deployed on Amazon Bedrock. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Meta unveiled four generations of custom AI chips focused on inference to reduce GPU dependence. (The Decoder)

• xAI received approval for 41 natural gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus data centers. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Hyperscale Power raised €5M seed to build a prototype miniaturized solid-state transformer for data center power. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Nvidia plans $26 billion investment in open-weight AI models over five years, per SEC filing. (The Decoder)

Regulation & Policy

• US War Department CTO claimed Anthropic’s Claude “pollutes” the defense supply chain with built-in ethics. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft, OpenAI and Google employees, ex-military, and rights groups filed amicus briefs backing Anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon. (The Decoder)

• A lawyer linked AI chatbots to mass casualty cases and warned of risks as the technology advances faster than safeguards. (TechCrunch AI)

• Palantir demos show Anthropic’s Claude helping the Pentagon analyze intelligence and suggest next steps for war plans. (Wired AI)

• Sam Altman faced questions from lawmakers on OpenAI’s Defense Department work. (CNBC Tech)

• Google is not ruling out ads in Gemini. (Wired AI)

• Google’s generative AI search tools increasingly cite its own services like Google Search and YouTube over third-party publishers. (Wired AI)

Business & Funding

• xAI is revamping its AI coding tool with two new executives hired from Cursor. (TechCrunch AI)

• Andreessen Horowitz’s Top 100 AI ranking shows ChatGPT leading a maturing market with growing competitors and geopolitical usage splits. (The Decoder)

• Similarweb data shows ChatGPT market share fell from 75.7% to 61.7% as Google Gemini rose from 5.7% to 24.4%. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic removed the surcharge for million-token context windows in Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6, reducing costs for requests over 200,000 tokens. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic launched the Anthropic Institute to study AI risks, led by co-founder Jack Clark. (SiliconANGLE AI)

• AI coding startup Cursor is in talks for a $50 billion valuation funding round. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Nick Clegg launched AI startup Efekta, deliberately avoiding an AGI focus after his time at Meta. (Wired AI)

• Elon Musk’s ketamine use ruled off-limits in OpenAI fraud trial. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Microsoft is pushing AI adoption in Africa, competing with DeepSeek. (Bloomberg Technology)

Society & Culture

• ByteDance shelved the global launch of Seedance 2.0 after copyright complaints from Hollywood studios. (The Decoder)

• An Australian AI consultant used ChatGPT, AlphaFold, and Grok to identify a possible treatment for his dog’s incurable cancer. (The Decoder)

• ServiceNow CEO stated AI agents could push college graduate unemployment over 30%. (CNBC Tech)

• Seven Chinese local governments launched million-dollar funding programs for OpenClaw projects to enable “one-person companies” with AI agents. (The Decoder)

• China’s OpenClaw usage exceeded the US, driving demand for lower-cost Chinese AI models. (CNBC Tech)

• Google expanded Gemini in Chrome to India, Canada, and New Zealand with support for Hindi, Bengali, and other languages. (TechCrunch AI)

Until next week!

Rachid

This edition will cover the week from 9 March to 15 March.

What caught my attention

Xbox has been a punching bag for years. Fair enough.

Then GDC happens, and Microsoft walks in with Project Helix - AI upscaling, an order-of-magnitude ray tracing leap, a PC/console hybrid with an actual identity. Dev kits in 2027. Nothing to play tomorrow. But… new leadership, a new hardware narrative, and a room full of developers who needed a reason to care about Xbox again.

Whether it holds is another question. Right now? It lands.

TLDR

1. Jeff Kaplan / Lex Fridman interview — Kaplan on WoW, Overwatch, and his Blizzard exit in April 2021. Rare candid account from someone who built two of the biggest games ever made. (GameSpot)

2. Project Helix (Xbox/GDC) — New leadership, new hardware story, specs that give developers a reason to pay attention again. (GamesRadar)

3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins GDC GOTY + 12 BAFTA nominations — A French indie on track to match Baldur’s Gate 3’s awards run. (GamesIndustry.biz)

4. Pokémon Pokopia — 2.2M units in 4 days, Nintendo stock +10.5% — Numbers that matter. (GamesIndustry.biz)

5. Slay the Spire 2 — 3M units in one week — Steam’s biggest roguelike, one week in. (GamesRadar)

Biggest releases of the week

Full roundup

• Blizzard vet Rob Pardo closed GDC keynote, urging executives to cool layoffs, stating the game team is more valuable than the game itself. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard veteran Rob Pardo stated love is the most important development milestone. (Game Developer)

• Ex-Blizzard exec urged the industry to stop taking developers for granted amid layoffs at EA and Ubisoft. (GamesRadar)

• Sega recorded a $200 million impairment write-down for Rovio after its $776 million acquisition, citing over-reliance on local management and issues with Beacon tech. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Embark Studios head Patrick Söderlund explained Arc Raiders was built on a quarter of a typical AAA budget. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Embark Studios re-recorded AI-generated voice lines for Arc Raiders after acknowledging human actors deliver better results. (Eurogamer)

• Palworld publishing lead stated the West continues to stumble and they are more determined than ever to support underfunded developers. (GamesRadar)

• Pocketpair lead said apologies to professional Palworld haters, but the studio will keep doing what players want. (GamesRadar)

• Valve shared data showing more games are finding success than ever, with nearly 6,000 titles making over $100,000 last year. (GamesRadar)

• Newzoo projects PC revenue to overtake console by 2028 with a 6.6% CAGR versus 4.4% for console. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Rebranded GDC Festival of Gaming attracted 20,000 attendees from March 9 to 13. (Game Developer)

• Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry director argued asset reuse in games is essential and studios redo too much from scratch. (PC Gamer)

• Former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent launched venture capital firm Leeroy Jenkins Kapital focused on European video game companies. (Sheep Esports)

• Journey composer Austin Wintory played an unreleased track from his canceled dream job at the Game Developers Choice Awards. (PC Gamer)

• Shinji Mikami has a new studio with staff benefits including a chocolate fountain on Valentine’s Day. (PC Gamer)

• Xbox brought main character energy to GDC with Project Helix, Microsoft’s next-gen PC/console hybrid. (Polygon)

• Early Project Helix specs include next-generation AI upscaling and an order-of-magnitude leap in ray tracing performance. (GamesRadar)

• Project Helix dev kits are not going out until 2027, with new details emerging on Xbox’s next-gen console. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft posted photos teasing work-in-progress Xbox hardware at GDC following Project Helix confirmation. (Eurogamer)

• Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign is quietly being swept under the rug amid leadership changes. (GamesRadar)

• Xbox confirmed Project Moorcroft, a game demos and Game Pass initiative teased in 2022, is dead. (GameSpot)

• Xbox AI lead argued AI is not a new feature, pointing to cheat detection and pathfinding systems dating back to Drivatar in Forza Motorsport 2005. (GamesRadar)

• Xbox lead stated the industry has been in a golden age for indie games since 2008. (GamesRadar)

• Microsoft stated Xbox Play Anywhere titles can double player spending and engagement. (Game Developer)

• Bethesda will share more on Starfield next week, as Todd Howard describes his only visionary power as seeing running lanes in EA College Football 26. (GamesRadar)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year and five total accolades at the 26th Game Developers Choice Awards, and secured 12 BAFTA nominations. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer described receiving praise from Final Fantasy legends as surreal given the series’ influence on the game. (GamesRadar)

• Creator of Chained Echoes is preparing a lawsuit against its physical publisher and plans to compensate Kickstarter backers. (GamesRadar)

• Slay the Spire 2 sold 3 million units in one week with over 25 million runs, becoming Steam’s biggest roguelike. (GamesRadar)

• Crimson Desert launched on PC with pre-loading starting March 17 and a launch trailer. (RPG Site)

• Crimson Desert developer says the PC preview builds already had Denuvo DRM and are representative of the final consumer experience. (GamesRadar)

• Crimson Desert locked down early-shipped physical copies to block spoilers before the official release. (GamesRadar)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is now available worldwide on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox, and Steam. (RPG Site)

• Diablo IV Season of Slaughter launched with Kill Streaks, a Doom: The Dark Ages collaboration, and Butcher transformation. (RPG Site)

• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred crafting system revives season 11 sanctification, allowing low-level loot to be upgraded to legendary. (PC Gamer)

• Control Resonant launched with DLSS 4.5, path-traced rendering, ray reconstruction, and RTX mega geometry support. (RPG Site)

• Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PC Steam. (RPG Site)

• Shadowstone from Secret Door and Dreamhaven kicked off a surprise public playtest at the Future Games Show Spring Showcase ahead of early access. (PC Gamer)

• VALORANT Act 2 adds Knockout mode, a round-based team elimination format, and new agent Miks on March 18. (Hotspawn)

• Wuthering Waves Version 3.2 launches March 18 with streamlined Resonator rewards and motorbike improvements. (RPG Site)

• Zenless Zone Zero Version 2.7 launches March 24 with Hollow Champion competition, Nangong Yu, Cissia, and physical collector’s editions for PS5 and Xbox Series X. (RPG Site)

• Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.1 launches March 25 with limited 5-star characters Ashveil, Hyacine, and Boothill. (RPG Site)

• Ghost of Yotei developers say they know players hate super boss Takezo and consider it a success. (GamesRadar)

• Ghost of Yotei cut content included Zelda-like climbing mechanics and multiple worlds. (GameSpot)

• Capcom’s Pragmata demo hit two million downloads across platforms. (Nintendo Life)

• Marvel Rivals impacted Blizzard, with the Overwatch team citing new hero drop cadence as a key factor. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch director celebrated no longer being Steam’s lowest-rated game but admitted uncertainty on reaching a positive score. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch co-creator allegedly left Blizzard after an executive said he would be responsible for 1,000 layoffs if the game missed financial targets. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch’s Nier Automata collab launched without voice lines at a higher price than the RPG itself. (GamesRadar)

• Jeff Kaplan has checked player accounts complaining about Overwatch matchmaking and noted there have to be winners and losers. (PC Gamer)

• Overwatch vet Jeff Kaplan stated the human spirit is irreplaceable in the context of AI in game development. (GameSpot)

• Fortnite players revolted over V-Bucks price increases; Epic raised prices to cover increased running costs. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• CD Projekt Red confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 will not receive any more secret content. (Eurogamer)

• Blizzard’s cancelled WoW follow-up Project Titan was a one-server, one-world MMO with GTA and Animal Crossing influences, but was too large to ship. (GamesRadar)

• WoW’s Horde/Alliance split was controversial internally and only locked in 9-12 months before launch, per Jeff Kaplan. (PC Gamer)

• Jeff Kaplan admitted that typical hubris led to one of WoW’s worst quests. (GamesRadar)

• WoW’s questing system was inspired by a failed playtest where non-MMO players ran out of quests immediately. (PC Gamer)

• Donkey Kong Bananza producer said ideas from the game may inform Nintendo’s next big project, but only if they feel fresh. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon Pokopia sold over 2.2 million units in its first four days, boosting Nintendo’s share price by 10.5%. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Pokémon Pokopia first patch addressed progress-halting bugs and eased progression. (Eurogamer)

• After 48 hours with Pokémon Pokopia, one writer concluded humans were the problem with Pokémon all along. (GamesRadar)

• Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler series hit another major sales milestone following the release of Octopath Traveler 0. (Nintendo Life)

• Octopath Traveler team’s new Zelda-like action RPG features cat collecting, with different cats having different tastes. (GamesRadar)

• Square Enix announced three North American tour dates for the Chrono Trigger Orchestral Concert with presale access. (RPG Site)

• Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring Switch 2 port is shaping up to be an excellent adaptation. (RPG Site)

• Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake updated to Version 1.0.2.0 with various improvements. (Nintendo Life)

• Nier Automata’s Yoko Taro says his generation of game directors has a lot of weirdos because games were not mainstream when they started. (GamesRadar)

• Nier Automata-inspired indie Homura Hime includes a system that Yoko Taro dropped from his own game. (GamesRadar)

• Starfield composer Inon Zur stated people were not ready for the game and called Todd Howard a visionary. (Eurogamer)

• Street Fighter game director teased a very smart movie adaptation in a new behind-the-scenes featurette. (GamesRadar)

• Former Eve Online developers are building Seed, a society simulation MMO where characters keep playing after you log off. (PC Gamer)

• Mina the Hollower preview notes Yacht Club’s Zelda homage carries Game Boy nostalgia and surprising depth. (Polygon)

• Dave the Diver DLC In the Jungle adds Stardew Valley-style time management and relationship building, releasing in June. (PC Gamer)

• Path of Exile’s new Mirage League may be the best chance players ever get at the rarest item in the game. (PC Gamer)

• Dispatch lies about RNG for player benefit, auto-succeeding rolls above 76%, similar to XCOM. (GamesRadar)

• Dispatch’s concept artist was picked up on ArtStation as a temporary fix but ended up defining the entire game’s art style. (PC Gamer)

• Dark Messiah modders given free rein by Ubisoft are releasing a Community Edition of Arkane’s classic. (PC Gamer)

• Hasbro CEO uses AI heavily in personal D&D games but keeps it out of MTG cards and official D&D books because players do not want it. (PC Gamer)

• NewZoo study found Roblox and Minecraft players are less likely to engage with AAA titles due to not prioritizing realistic graphics. (GameSpot)

• University of Bristol and Meaning Machine research shows over 90% of gamers find AI-powered NPCs enjoyable and rewarding. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Google’s Genie 3 world models start to break down after about a minute due to memory limits, per a GDC talk. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Anime legends Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno reunited, though Miyazaki does not appear to be working on a new film. (GamesRadar)

• Minecraft Live returns March 21 with behind-the-scenes content and updates. (PC Gamer)

• 25 years since 3DMark2001’s Nature test first dropped jaws, marking how far 3D graphics have come. (PC Gamer)

• Natsume announced Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. (Gematsu)

• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available for preorder ahead of its PS5 and PC release on August 6. (IGN)

• Marvel Maximum Collection brings six superhero titles to Switch digitally on March 27 with physical pre-orders. (Nintendo Life)

• Next Pokémon TCG set Chaos Rising features Mega Floette ex in Lumiose City, due in May. (GamesRadar)

• Pokemon Company partnered with Eisai to distribute a Snorlax picture book to Japan hospitals for sleep awareness. (Siliconera)

• Valve clarified Steam Machine and Steam Frame Verified requirements, including mandatory Steam Deck performance benchmarks. (PC Gamer)

• Intel announced Arrow Lake Plus desktop chips with more cores, higher clocks, lower cost, and an IPC-boosting BOT tool. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo’s lawsuit against the U.S. government over 2025 tariffs is automatically paused pending the outcome of another tariff case. (Nintendo Life)

• UK class-action lawsuit against Sony for $2.67 billion over excessive digital download charges on the PlayStation Store is now being heard. (Polygon)

• PEGI revised its age ratings system, bumping loot boxes to PEGI 16 and factoring in daily quests. (Game Developer)

• Valve pushed back against a New York lawsuit over loot boxes, comparing them to Pokemon cards, Magic: The Gathering, and Labubu. (GamesRadar)

• Nongshim RedForce defeated Paper Rex 3-0 to win their first VALORANT Masters in Santiago. (Sheep Esports)

• NAVI defeated Aurora 3-1 to win ESL Pro League Season 23, their first Tier 1 trophy since IEM Rio 2024. (Hotspawn)

• Bertrand Amar announced LoL Game Changers competitions for 2026 and 2027. (Sheep Esports)

• New French organizer N.E.O., led by Bertrand Amar and Matthieu Dallon, acquired EMEA Masters and LoL Game Changers. (Sheep Esports)

• G2 and Liquid traded malbsMd and NertZ. (Hotspawn)

• paiN Gaming CEO Thomas Hamence stepped down on March 12 following backlash over the handling of sexual abuse allegations involving player TitaN. (Hotspawn)

• Fighting game pro Ludovic Mbock was released on bond after being detained by ICE. (GameSpot)

• ExpressVPN renewed its LEC partnership and signed with VCT EMEA, VCT Americas, G2 Esports, and Method. (Hotspawn)

• A former Highguard developer stated that online discourse had dark corners that may have accelerated the studio’s failure timeline, though it was not the primary cause. (PC Gamer)

• Highguard's technical artist returned to social media to apologise for a previous outburst that was misdirected following the studio’s shutdown. (Eurogamer)

This edition will cover the week from 2 March to 8 March.

What caught my attention

The Pentagon labelled Anthropic a supply chain risk while running Claude on classified systems. Anthropic is suing. A million new users a day are switching to Claude. ChatGPT downloads are dropping.

OpenAI is pulling a Yahoo - chasing government contracts and enterprise deals while quietly losing the thing that actually matters: being the AI people want to open. Defaults shift. Faster than anyone admits. Claude is starting to feel like that shift.

TLDR

1. Pentagon vs Anthropic - A company providing AI to classified government systems gets labeled a supply chain risk by the same government. Anthropic is suing. The precedent this sets for every AI startup near defense work is significant.

2. OpenAI/Oracle halt Stargate Texas expansion - Power supply delays stall the flagship data center while Nvidia pivots chip supply away from China. The infrastructure bottleneck is real and getting worse.

3. AI memory-chip shortage - AI demand is triggering a historic shortage expected to raise prices across phones, cars, and electronics. Not an AI story. A consumer economics story.

4. Caitlin Kalinowski resigns from OpenAI - Head of robotics walks over the Pentagon deal, citing mass surveillance and lethal autonomy concerns. Senior talent voting with their feet is a signal worth tracking.

5. AI agent benchmarks ignore 92% of the labor market - Study finds benchmarks obsess over coding tasks while the vast majority of jobs go unmeasured. The gap between what we’re optimizing for and what actually matters keeps widening.

Rest of the news

Models & Research

• OpenAI releases the GPT-5.4 Thinking System Card. (OpenAI Blog)

• Luma AI releases Uni-1 image model that tops Nano Banana 2 and GPT Image 1.5 on logic-based benchmarks, combining image understanding and generation. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft releases Phi-4-Reasoning-Vision-15B, a 15B parameter open-weight multimodal model for math, science, and GUI tasks. (MarkTechPost)

• Study finds AI agent benchmarks focus almost entirely on coding tasks, ignoring 92% of the US labor market. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic compares Claude’s actual capabilities against real-world usage patterns. (The Neuron)

• Google releases open-source SpeciesNet AI model to identify animals for wildlife conservation. (Google AI Blog)

Products & Tools

• Cursor rolls out Automations, an agentic coding tool triggered by codebase changes, Slack messages, or timers. (TechCrunch AI)

• Descript uses OpenAI models for multilingual video dubbing, optimizing translations for meaning and timing. (OpenAI Blog)

• Grammarly adds an ‘expert review’ feature using writing styles from great writers, thinkers, and tech journalists. (TechCrunch AI)

• Grammarly’s expert review feature uses the identities of experts - including deceased professors and tech journalists - without permission. (The Verge AI)

• AI tools can unmask anonymous online accounts across platforms. (The Verge AI)

• Apple Music rolls out Transparency Tags for labels and distributors to flag AI-generated content in artwork, tracks, compositions, and videos. (The Verge AI)

• Samsung reveals first details of AI smart glasses launching in 2026. (CNBC Tech)

• Google Techspert explains the AI Mode query fan-out method for visual search. (Google AI Blog)

• MariaDB agrees to acquire GridGain to meet sub-millisecond data demands of agentic AI. (Fierce Network)

• Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive for film and TV production tools. (The Verge AI)

• Sinch co-founder discusses RCS, WhatsApp, and AI-powered voice bots for enterprise communication. (Capacity Global)

Infrastructure & Compute

• AI demand triggers historic memory-chip shortage expected to raise prices for phones, cars, and electronics. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI and Oracle halt expansion of the Stargate data center in Texas over power supply delays, shifting to Nvidia Vera Rubin chips elsewhere. (The Decoder)

• Nvidia reallocates China H200 manufacturing capacity to Vera Rubin chips due to low GPU sales to Chinese customers. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Pinewood Studios gets approval for a £1bn data center next to the James Bond filming site. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Aikido launches an underwater data center project aboard an offshore wind turbine to expand AI compute capacity. (AI Business)

• HighBrook closes its first data center fund targeting 300MW developments at three Fairfax County, Virginia sites. (Data Center Dynamics)

• LG launches a containerized data center offering and plans a 60MW deployment with 50 containers in Busan, South Korea. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Google seeks land annexation for a six-building data center campus in Linn County, Iowa. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Emerald AI releases results of a UK demonstration project with National Grid over five days at a Nebius data center. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Data center skills are becoming critical for supporting AI growth. (Data Center Dynamics)

• HD Hyundai Electric accelerates US expansion, betting on AI supercycle driving demand for transformers and switchgear. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Foxconn revenue up 22% year-on-year in 2026, driven by server demand. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Owner of an ICE detention facility sees opportunity in AI man camps modeled after remote oil field housing for data center developers. (TechCrunch AI)

• AI data center boom creates hidden housing demand with mobile housing for remote workers. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Broadcom earnings and AI PR issues discussed on CNBC Morning Squawk. (CNBC Tech)

Regulation & Policy

• Pentagon designates Anthropic as a supply chain risk despite the company providing AI for classified systems; Anthropic plans to sue. (NYT Technology)

• Pentagon appoints ex-Uber executive Emil Michael as under secretary amid the Anthropic AI feud. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Defense experts defend Anthropic in a letter to Congress, calling the Pentagon’s supply chain risk label a dangerous precedent. (CNBC Tech)

• Microsoft, Google, and Amazon confirm Anthropic Claude remains available to non-defense customers. (TechCrunch AI)

• TechCrunch Equity podcast discusses whether the Pentagon’s Anthropic controversy will scare startups away from defense work. (TechCrunch AI)

• Tech groups urge Trump to drop the Anthropic supply chain risk designation. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Elon Musk’s xAI loses bid to block California law requiring AI firms to disclose training data sources. (Ars Technica AI)

• US mulls requiring permits for global Nvidia and AMD AI chip sales. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Euro regulators question Meta over AI glasses privacy fears involving a US data vendor. (AI Business)

• Europe faces a crossroads where cloud sovereignty and innovation must coexist for a resilient digital future. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Telecom CEOs warn Europe’s digital sovereignty is dead without a regulatory overhaul. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Opinion on the risks of using AI in war, noting uncertainty around Anthropic Claude’s role in US bombing of Iran. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Israel and US bomb data centers in Tehran following Iran’s drone strikes on AWS. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Wired’s Uncanny Valley podcast covers the Iran war in the AI era, prediction market ethics, and Paramount vs Netflix. (Wired AI)

Business & Funding

• SoftBank seeks a record $40 billion loan to fund its OpenAI stake. (The Decoder)

• Cerebras Systems taps Morgan Stanley to lead its IPO return. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Founders Fund leads an $80M Series B extension for AI manufacturing startup Nominal, valuing it at $1B. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Lio raises $30M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz to automate enterprise procurement. (TechCrunch AI)

• Palantir stock rallies 15% for the week on Iran war dynamics, with Anthropic concerns barely registering. (CNBC Tech)

• Palantir wins a court order blocking three ex-employees from poaching staff and using trade secrets for an AI startup. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Jack Dorsey explains Block’s 40% workforce layoffs to rebuild the company as an intelligence firm. (Wired AI)

• Oracle plans thousands of job cuts amid an AI data center expansion cash crunch. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Amazon lays off at least 100 roles in its robotics division focused on warehouse automation. (Capacity Global)

• Global AI glasses shipments reach 8.7M units; China is the fastest-growing market and Meta holds 85.2% share. (Light Reading)

• CH Robinson CEO states AI is boosting the company’s bottom line amid supply chain disruptions. (Bloomberg Technology)

• Op-ed on lessons from $5B humanoid robot firm Apptronik and its Google DeepMind partnership. (CNBC Tech)

• Meta states its AI-optimized data centers support the US economy with construction jobs and a Ratepayer Protection Pledge. (Social Media Today)

Society & Culture

• Anthropic reports Claude is adding over a million new users every day. (The Decoder)

• Claude app sees more new installs than ChatGPT and grows daily active users despite the Pentagon deal controversy. (TechCrunch AI)

• ChatGPT downloads drop amid the Pentagon feud; Claude gains users. (Bloomberg Technology)

• OpenAI’s head of robotics Caitlin Kalinowski quits over the Pentagon deal, citing concerns about mass surveillance and lethal autonomy. (The Decoder)

• Study in Harvard Business Review finds overusing AI causes “AI brain fry” in workers. (CBS News Tech)

• China plans to use AI to create jobs amid 12.7 million university graduates entering the labor market. (Bloomberg Technology)

• AI-generated videos manipulate animals to perform actions, potentially numbing viewers to real animal behavior. (NYT Technology)

• Meta AI glasses reportedly send sensitive footage to human reviewers in Kenya. (The Verge AI)

• Class action lawsuit filed over Meta AI glasses privacy claims; Meta states its AI filters data to keep it private. (AI Business)

• OpenClaw superfan meetup ClawCon features lobster-themed events, pink lighting, and open-source AI discussions in NYC. (The Verge AI)

• Tim Cook discusses Apple’s first 50 years, the focus on innovation, and Steve Jobs’ vision in an extended CBS interview. (CBS News Tech)

• Ring founder discusses AI’s role in modern home security including lost pet finding tech. (Bloomberg Technology)

This edition will cover the week from 2 March to 8 March.

What caught my attention

Pokopia launched to monstrous numbers and excellent vibes - more on that in the TLDR.

But personally, the highlight of my week was finally making it back home after being stuck in the UAE, seeing friends & family, and logging into World of Warcraft: Midnight.

I started playing WoW in December 2019. A colleague from Ubisoft - who became a close friend - couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Warcraft 3 was my favourite game of all time, and I’d never touched WoW.

He fixed that. 2,500+ hours later, countless books, lore videos, WoW history content: it’s comfortably my second favourite game, and functions as pure comfort food.

The Silvermoon angle is personal. In Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, the Blood Elves joined the Human alliance, so my Human armies always had Blood Elf units in them. That duality followed me into WoW. My main is a mage, and every expansion I still hesitate between Human and Blood Elf. Stormwind is an incredible city, Orgrimmar? Not so much… Seeing Silvermoon completely remade for Midnight hit differently because of that history.

I’ve been taking my absolute sweet time. Not flying - ground mount only. Every side quest. No rush for higher ilvl. Just soaking it in.

(Side note: back in 2017, I interviewed at Blizzard for a PR role focused on WoW. Didn’t make it past the first round - they wanted someone deeply familiar with the game. I understand them even better now.)

TLDR

• Pokémon Pokopia launched to huge numbers with a post-apocalyptic world featuring haunted Pikachu dolls, dead-eyed Ditto-humans, and players vomiting water using the shoulder button instead of a watering can. (Eurogamer)

• Slay the Spire 2 reached over 573,000 concurrent players on Steam, entering the top 20 most-played games ever. (GamesRadar)

• Nintendo sued the U.S. government over Trump's tariffs, which delayed the Switch 2 pre-order, and demanded a refund with interest. (IGN)

• Nagoshi Studio faces potential closure after NetEase pulled funding for Gang of Dragon, announced just three months ago. (VGC)

• Resident Evil Requiem sold 5 million copies in its launch week, likely the series’ biggest launch ever. (VGC)

Biggest releases of the week

Rest of the news

• Capcom removed a DRM system added to Resident Evil 4 Remake on Steam after players reported performance impacts. (Eurogamer)

• Shigeru Miyamoto stated 40 years ago that games chasing realism were failures and Tom and Jerry’s cartoon reality fueled Nintendo’s early games. (GamesRadar)

• Ratcheteer DX transitions from retro handheld to PC and Switch, mimicking the GameBoy to GameBoy Color shift. (GamesRadar)

• A YouTube CRPG docuseries released a 3-hour retrospective on Ultima 8. (PC Gamer)

• Hytale lead stated modding support comes partly from hiring community members to build a scrappy team. (PC Gamer)

• A coder made Dreamcast-era Crazy Taxi cityscapes explorable in browsers as a winter project. (PC Gamer)

• The Division 2 broke its concurrent Steam record during ten-year anniversary celebrations. (Eurogamer)

• Kitfox Games CEO Tanya X. Short attributes success partly to hundreds of hours playing Civilization. (PC Gamer)

• Marvel Rivals implemented Victim Compensation Protocol to restore competitive points lost to malicious match-losing and paid throwing. (GamesRadar)

• Saber Interactive confirmed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake remains in development. (Eurogamer)

• Bungie plans to adjust Marathon’s Lux currency in a $10 bundle from 1,100 to 1,120 and make the game slightly easier in a patch next week. (IGN)

• A Mongolian political party launched a CS2 tournament requiring Democratic Party membership. (Sheep Esports)

• Razer collaborated with Sanrio and Overwatch on PC gear and skins including Kiriko Cinnamonroll, D.Va Melody, Lucio Keroppi, Widowmaker Kuromi, and Juno Hello Kitty. (GameSpot)

• World of Warcraft revamped Silvermoon for Midnight. (PC Gamer)

• Ousted Ashes of Creation director won a restraining order against Intrepid Studios board, denying mismanagement of funds or causing shutdown. (Eurogamer)

• Pokémon TCG 151 cards including Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur increased in value after 30th anniversary celebrations. (IGN)

• CS2 players in Germany must use CS X-ray Scanner for case openings from March 16 instead of keys. (Hotspawn)

• A decades-old Diablo 2 easter egg became relevant again in Reign of the Warlock for loot hunting. (PC Gamer)

• Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 director revealed Rocket Town returns, Wutai is a main location, and Highwind airship is a large part. (GamesRadar)

• Linnea, a Geo fae character, becomes playable in Genshin Impact after Luna VI update. (Siliconera)

• The Pokémon Company criticized Trump administration’s use of Pokémon imagery in political memes, stating Pokémon is apolitical; Trump spokesman cited decade-old Clinton post. (PC Gamer)

• 2026 Honor of Kings Major League Spring removed teams Astar Esports, Alpha7 Esports, and Leviatán due to travel issues. (Esports Insider)

• GreedFall: The Dying World trailer showcased continental conflict, endless war, and Malichor plague. (RPG Site)

• Capcom released a 3-minute gameplay trailer for Onimusha: Way of the Sword at Capcom Spotlight. (RPG Site)

• TinyBuild’s The King is Watching sold over 500,000 copies since July 2025 using Steam changes and a China strategy. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Nintendo seemingly leaked Mario Kart World content update suggesting fan-favorite mode return on Switch 2. (GamesRadar)

• Marathon launch player numbers on PC are about half those of Server Slam. (VG247)

• World of Warcraft: Midnight housing uses premium Hearthsteel currency requiring minimization of leftovers despite Blizzard’s prior statement. (PC Gamer)

• Method partnered with SCAN Computers for World of Warcraft Midnight Season 1 Race to World First. (Esports Insider)

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits launches on Switch 2 this spring. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox boss stated Microsoft’s Project Helix next-gen console plays Xbox and PC games and leads in performance. (Eurogamer)

• Oddin.gg 2025 esports betting review highlighted CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends, VALORANT, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. (Esports Insider)

• Sony tested PS5 dynamic pricing in 68 regions with varying prices and personalized sales. (Polygon)

• Bandai Namco starts location tests mid-March for Biohazard RE:2 Arcade based on Resident Evil 2 Remake, releasing in Japan and Europe in 2026. (Siliconera)

• World of Warcraft fans questioned $7.50 trees in Midnight housing decor, leading to discounts. (GamesRadar)

• Nintendo announced a Direct for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie with new artwork featuring unexpected names. (Eurogamer)

• Former Ubisoft developer stated Assassin’s Creed developer is hated by public and many internal devs but can make great games post-restructure. (GamesRadar)

• Analyst stated Xbox hardware business could end if Project Helix fails. (GameSpot)

• Gran Turismo cancelled World Series opening round in Abu Dhabi on March 28 due to Middle East instability. (Esports Insider)

• League of Legends First Stand 2026 features teams, format, and schedule starting next week. (Esports Insider)

• Team Vitality exited StarCraft II esports after two years. (Esports Insider)

• Epic Games Store teased new Cyberpunk 2077 Fortnite cosmetics. (GameSpot)

• Top Esports jungler naiyou is under LPL investigation for potential match-fixing in 2026 Winter Split playoffs. (Sheep Esports)

• Fnatic confirmed academy efforts, new LEC coach, and maintained roster for Spring despite last playoffs finish. (Sheep Esports)

• Capcom detailed online features for Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection on Switch. (Nintendo Life)

• Blizzard will change Diablo 4 levelling pace for Lord of Hatred expansion on April 28. (Eurogamer)

• Bandai Namco’s Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad features a Death game mode deleting saves on death, launching July 10 on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC. (GamesRadar)

• Diablo 4 Warlock casts demons like spells with expanded skill trees in Lord of Hatred. (PC Gamer)

• BLAST Bounty CS2 tournament returns to Malta from January 11-24 2027 with revamped format and more LAN matches. (Esports Insider)

• Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered released with Legacy of Kain: Ascendance on March 31. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon Winds and Waves should bring back Pikachu’s Beach mini-game from Pokémon Yellow. (Polygon)

• MindsEye studio laid off more staff with CEO blaming criminal activity for game failure. (Polygon)

• Embark Studios is fixing Arc Raiders Discord integration bug exposing private DMs and friends data. (Eurogamer)

• Shigeru Miyamoto forced Super Mario Bros 3’s Frog Suit inclusion despite its issues because it was fun. (GamesRadar)

• Epic Games sued former contract worker identified as Fortnite leaker AdiraFN who leaked crossovers under NDA. (PC Gamer)

• Highguard lead stated everyone has their own take on why the game failed; director admitted release happened due to time and money constraints. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon Winds and Waves hints may have been hiding in Scarlet and Violet, with fans theorizing possible unsolved mysteries and new Eeveelutions. (GamesRadar)

• Assassin’s Creed Unity received 60fps update on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S with 4K support 12 years after launch. (GameSpot)

• Capcom advanced Pragmata release to next month. (VGC)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection launches next week on Switch 2 with bonus unlocks from prior titles and free DLC. (Nintendo Life)

• Suikoden: The Anime trailer revealed October 2026 airing start by Konami. (RPG Site)

• Pokémon TCG 2026 schedule includes Mega Evolution sets and anniversary celebrations. (IGN)

• Pokémon Pokopia launched with its first limited-time event featuring Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff. (Eurogamer)

• Google settled dispute with Epic Games by reducing Play Store in-app purchase commissions to 20%. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Valve re-released CS:GO on Steam but will not license tournaments for esports. (Esports Insider)

• Apex Legends anti-cheat update targets third-party hardware devices manipulating controller inputs. (Esports Insider)

• World of Warcraft: Midnight review highlights renewed devotion from RPG storytelling and varied questing. (GamesRadar)

• Persona 5: The Phantom X version 3.3 adds Firecracker Yaoling “Rin” Li with Lunar New Year event. (RPG Site)

• Witchcraft formed as spiritual successor to Los Ratones for EMEA Masters Winter 2026. (Hotspawn)

• Riot, Tencent, and Punchdrunk launched a 120-minute Immersive Arcane live show in Shanghai exploring Zaun and Piltover. (Sheep Esports)

• Riot Games released details on 2026 Riftbound expansions Unleashed, Vendetta, and Radiance. (Sheep Esports)

• Uniqlo will sell Pokémon 30th anniversary shirts starting March 23 in Japan. (Siliconera)

• Blizzard called Overwatch Season 1 the beginning of a comeback with returning fans. (GamesRadar)

• Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is a 2D Action-Exploration game, not a roguelike despite Dead Cells developer heritage. (GamesRadar)

• Research firm stated female players represent an overlooked growth opportunity in gaming. (VGC)

• Marvel Rivals announced Path to Doomsday roadmap honoring Avengers movies with new content. (Eurogamer)

• Shigeru Miyamoto compared 1980s game hidden secrets to pornography seeking stronger stimulation. (GamesRadar)

• Crimson Desert devs admitted announcing 6.5 years early and aim to prove viability without over-promising. (GamesRadar)

• Overwatch x NieR: Automata collab Project YoRHa features skins for Overwatch heroes per concept art. (Esports Insider)

• Former Blizzard CCO Rob Pardo will keynote GDC Festival of Gaming. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Game Freak veteran stated Pokémon being a children’s game is a misunderstanding. (GamesRadar)

• Japanese game developers report staff reductions via less hiring despite no mass layoffs. (VGC)

• One Piece fans identified real-life location of the One Piece treasure buried 600m underwater by Oda. (GamesRadar)

• Good Games Group acquired Humble Games, rebranded to Balor Games. (Gematsu)

• Final Fantasy 11 locked another server due to overpopulation 24 years post-launch. (Eurogamer)

• Remedy released new gameplay for melee-focused Control Resonant sequel. (VGC)

• Crimson Desert PR confirmed console versions will be shown ahead of launch. (GamesRadar)

• Riot Games’ Chris Greeley addressed 140-seat First Stand 2026 venue criticism. (Sheep Esports)

• Call of Duty leaker TheGhostOfHope retired after Activision legal threat, with leaks deemed inaccurate. (GameSpot)

• Assassin’s Creed boss updated on Hexe, Invictus, Jade; teased Black Flag remake; Shadows updates wind down; Unity gets 60fps patch. (VGC)

• LEC Finals peaked at 735K viewers, four times the LCS peak. (Sheep Esports)

• Ubisoft confirmed Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake without the ‘4’. (PC Gamer)

• GDC 2026 trends include GTA 6 and the rise of AI. (GamesRadar)

• Highguard’s failure shows past live service hits do not guarantee future success. (PC Gamer)

• Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack adds two Virtual Boy and one GBA title on March 10 MAR10 Day. (Nintendo Life)

• Bloomberg reported Sony Interactive Entertainment will stop releasing big PS5 single-player titles on PC. (Gematsu)

• Indonesia Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka hosted MOONTON Games delegation and esports players on March 2. (Esports Insider)

• Tencent stakes in U.S. gaming companies face security risk review ahead of Trump-Xi meeting. (GameSpot)

• Koei Tecmo partnered with SpiralAI on Geppetto2 large language model for entertainment-AI experiences. (Eurogamer)

• Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered Switch versions delayed to a later date. (Nintendo Life)

• Capcom makes approximately half of sales on PC and expects the ratio to continue increasing. (PC Gamer)

• Console Archives Nobunaga’s Ambition launched March 5 on PS5 and Switch 2. (Gematsu)

• Panic and Shaun Inman launched Ratcheteer DX on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Mac App Store. (RPG Site)

• Cygames and Cygames Osaka released the Meet the Crew: Beatrix trailer for Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok. (Gematsu)

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This edition will cover the week from 23 February to 1 March.

What caught my attention

Anthropic holds its red lines against the Pentagon. Trump bans all federal use of their tech. Hegseth designates them as a supply chain risk. Sam Altman publicly praises Anthropic’s stance on autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

Then signs the Pentagon contract himself hours later.

Incredible scenes.

(Yes, I know, 2 weeks in a row where Sam Altman catches my attention, but damn…)

TLDR

• Trump ordered all federal agencies to immediately cease using Anthropic’s technology. Hegseth designated the company a “supply chain risk,” directing all military contractors to cut commercial ties with Anthropic. (CBS News)

• Anthropic refused to allow “all lawful” military use of Claude despite losing its $200 million Pentagon contract, with CEO Dario Amodei stating the company “cannot in good conscience accede.” Autonomous weapons and mass surveillance remain non-negotiables. (The Hill)

• OpenAI’s Sam Altman publicly praised Anthropic’s red lines on autonomous weapons and mass surveillance - then signed the Pentagon contract hours after Anthropic was blacklisted. (OPB)

• Pentagon CTO Emil Michael called Amodei a “liar” with a “God-complex” on X. Amodei called the designation “unprecedented” and “retaliatory” and vowed to challenge it in court. (CBS News)

• Legal experts argue Hegseth’s supply chain risk designation exceeds statutory authority and will not survive judicial review. (Lawfare)

Rest of the news

• Researchers from ETH Zurich and Anthropic demonstrate that commercially available AI models can identify pseudonymous internet users for a few dollars per person. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI published details of its contract with the Department of War, including safety red lines, legal protections, and deployment in classified environments. (OpenAI Blog)

• ElevenLabs and Google lead the updated Artificial Analysis speech-to-text benchmark. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic’s Claude rose to No. 1 in the App Store amid its Pentagon negotiations. (TechCrunch AI)

• Block Inc. laid off nearly half its staff, with co-founder Jack Dorsey attributing it to AI enabling more work with fewer employees. (Bloomberg Technology)

• China’s Honor debuted a smartphone with a robotic camera arm at Mobile World Congress and teased a humanoid robot. (CNBC Tech)

• ZTE showcased full-stack AI innovations under its “Connectivity + Computing” strategy at MWC Barcelona 2026. (Capacity Global)

• AI experts warn that complex AI systems risk surpassing human comprehension, potentially leading to business chaos. (CNBC Tech)

• AI servers now dominate Dell’s systems business. (Next Platform)

• Frontier LLMs like GPT-5.2 and Claude 4.6 lose up to 33% accuracy in longer conversations. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI labeled AI expert Stuart Russell a “doomer” in court despite CEO Sam Altman previously co-signing his AI extinction warnings. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI promised Canada tighter safety protocols after ChatGPT flagged a shooter’s violent chats but did not alert police. (The Decoder)

• AI advancements lack sufficient guardrails amid market meltdowns and political fights. (CNBC Tech)

• Health officials in Illinois used an AI chatbot to investigate a puzzling outbreak linked to a county fair. (Ars Technica AI)

• Google integrated its Intrinsic robotics project into the main company to develop an “Android for robotics” platform. (CNBC Tech)

• CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator defended accelerated infrastructure spending amid an 18% stock drop. (CNBC Tech)

• AI music generator Suno reached 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual recurring revenue. (TechCrunch AI)

• Accenture partnered with Mistral AI to scale secure, sovereign AI deployments across Europe. (AI Business)

• Anthropic’s Claude Code now automatically remembers debugging patterns, project context, and user preferences across sessions. (The Decoder)

• Bing updated its webmaster guidelines to include GEO for Copilot grounding, meta directives for AI answers, and expanded AI abuse definitions. (SEJ Generative AI)

• Elon Musk criticized OpenAI in a deposition, claiming xAI’s Grok caused no suicides unlike ChatGPT. (TechCrunch AI)

• OpenAI updated its mental health safety measures, including parental controls, trusted contacts, and distress detection. (OpenAI Blog)

• eBay laid off about 800 roles, or 6% of its workforce, to focus on strategic priorities. (CNBC Tech)

• Alibaba released the open Qwen 3.5 model series, including Qwen3.5-Flash, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B, Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, and Qwen3.5-27B, targeting GPT-5 Mini and Claude Sonnet 4.5 at a fraction of the cost. (The Decoder)

• Bumble added AI-powered photo feedback and profile guidance tools. (TechCrunch AI)

• Burger King launched AI chatbot “Patty” in employee headsets to assist with meal prep and evaluate customer interaction friendliness. (The Verge AI)

• Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at Prada’s fashion week sparked speculation about Prada-branded Meta AI glasses. (TechCrunch AI)

• C3 AI cut 26% of its workforce and reported wider-than-expected losses under new CEO Ehikian’s restructuring. (CNBC Tech)

• Adobe’s Firefly introduced a “Quick Cut” tool to generate rough edits from raw footage via text prompts. (The Decoder)

• The Trump administration directed U.S. diplomats to lobby against foreign data sovereignty laws affecting American tech firms. (TechCrunch AI)

• David Luan, head of Amazon’s San Francisco AGI lab, announced his departure after less than two years. (The Verge AI)

• The White House urged AI companies to cover electricity rate hikes, with many hyperscalers already committed. (TechCrunch AI)

• The FBI is investigating X over nonconsensual nude images generated by Grok AI. (Social Media Today)

• Google’s Gemini on Android now automates multi-step tasks like rideshare requests and grocery deliveries. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic highlighted risks of large-scale model distillation by Chinese vendors for enterprises. (AI Business)

• The $500 billion Stargate AI data center project stalled due to disputes among OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. (The Decoder)

• Multiple AIs were tested for parsing 20,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the House Oversight Committee. (The Verge AI)

• Spotify rolled out AI-powered Prompted Playlists to Premium subscribers in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and Sweden. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google released Nano Banana 2, leveraging Gemini’s knowledge base for real-time web search information and images. (AI Business)

• Hugging Face published a blog on Mixture of Experts (MoEs) in Transformers. (Hugging Face Blog)

• Stratechery interviewed VC Bill Gurley on his book, Uber, and the VC industry. (Stratechery)

• VectifyAI launched Mafin 2.5 and open-source PageIndex, achieving 98.7% accuracy in financial RAG via vectorless tree indexing. (MarkTechPost)

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What caught my attention

WoW Midnight dropped in early access this week. I’m stuck in Dubai for work, geopolitical situation doing its thing, collector’s edition lost somewhere in Amazon’s logistics void (heh.). Already bought the digital items separately weeks ago, just in case.

Still can’t play.

Classic.

TLDR

• Game Freak revealed Pokémon Winds & Waves, a new mainline Pokémon game coming in 2027 exclusively on Switch 2, featuring open world islands, underwater gameplay, and new starters. (IGN)

• Resident Evil Requiem peaked at 267,509 concurrent Steam players, breaking the series record over the previous 168,191 set by the Resident Evil 4 remake. (IGN)

• World of Warcraft Midnight features Leeroy Jenkins as the first called by the Light against the Void. (GamesRadar)

• Tencent pulled Highguard’s funding two weeks after launch, leading to mass layoffs at Wildlight with fewer than 20 developers remaining. (Eurogamer)

• Assassin’s Creed Hexe creative director Clint Hocking left Ubisoft following restructure, with former Black Flag director Jean Guesdon taking over. (PC Gamer)

Rest of the news

• Sheep Esports published an in-depth article on Team Liquid exploring its financial growth, diversified revenue streams, global expansion, and strategies for sustainable success. (Sheep Esports)

• Capcom shared a video showing pro wrestler Kenny Omega’s involvement in motion capture for Street Fighter 6’s Alex fighter. (Nintendo Life)

• Warframe’s Nintendo Switch 2 version launches in March alongside its next major update introducing The Shadowgrapher. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon Go’s Sparkle and Shine Masterwork Research rewards shiny Diancie as part of the paid Pokémon Go Tour: Kalos ticket starting February 28. (Polygon)

• Markiplier stated Hollywood was willfully ignoring YouTubers’ potential before his film Iron Lung made $50 million at the box office. (PC Gamer)

• Eurogamer featured a long-form extract from ON Games Volume 2 on the story of searching for Mew in Pokémon. (Eurogamer)

• Overwatch added Nier Automata crossover skins after Persona, with fans unhappy about repeated heroes receiving skins. (GamesRadar)

• Tales of Berseria Remastered launched worldwide on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and Steam, bringing the game to Xbox and Nintendo platforms for the first time. (RPG Site)

• Where Winds Meet’s first major expansion Hexi Chapter 1: Jade Gate Pass launches March 6 for PS5, mobile, and PC. (RPG Site)

• Owlcat teased a new Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader DLC focused on necron Trazyn the Infinite and a mysterious new companion. (PC Gamer)

• GamesRadar listed five Pokémon Gold, Silver & Crystal features that evolved the series into a worldwide megahit. (GamesRadar)

• World of Warcraft Midnight composer Leo Kaliski stated Blizzard feels lucky not to use generative AI and is making what devs think is cool. (GamesRadar)

• A speedrunner completed Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Switch releases in under 3 hours and found Legendary events included. (GamesRadar)

• World of Warcraft players are slaying hundreds of frogs to skin their hides before Blizzard catches them. (PC Gamer)

• Doom: The Dark Ages director stated the upcoming DLC is basically like a sequel and ginormous. (PC Gamer)

• An inaccessible zone in World of Warcraft: Midnight has players convinced it clues the next update. (PC Gamer)

• A wholesome platformer leading to Conker’s Bad Fur Day, locked for 27 years, releases on a $70 retro handheld with 13 other Rare games. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC adds Mega Garchomp Z via Mystery Gift Event for Mega Dimension DLC owners. (Nintendo Life)

• A new Pokémon TCG expansion celebrates 30 years but details remain unclear from the announcement. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon Champions brings PvP to Switch in April 2026 with a live-action trailer confirming mobile later in 2026. (GamesRadar)

• Malaysia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports works with Digital Ministry on esports guidelines addressing online behavior and youth content exposure. (Esports Insider)

• GamesIndustry.biz opined Xbox’s new boss could herald changes after Phil Spencer’s tenure. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Brawl Stars unveiled club cosmetics for nine partnered esports teams including profile icons, sprays, and pins available in-game. (Esports Insider)

• MOUZ extended its partnership with Razer for two more years after signing in 2019. (Esports Insider)

• Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Nintendo Online versions support Pokémon Home transfers to modern games. (Eurogamer)

• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness launches March 2026 for Nintendo GameCube - Nintendo Classics on Switch 2. (RPG Site)

• Valve stated Marathon’s Server Slam is the biggest Steam Next Fest demo. (GamesRadar)

• Bloomberg reported Bluepoint Games pitched a Bloodborne remake but was turned down by FromSoftware. (Gematsu)

• Pokémon Pokopia Switch 2 preloads are now live ahead of its exclusive release next week for the 30th anniversary. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon Winds and Waves features an open-world region of islands and ocean. (GamesRadar)

• The Pokémon Company is releasing a mini Game Boy that plays Pokémon music by swapping 45 cartridges. (VGC)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is now Steam Deck Verified ahead of March 13 launch. (RPG Site)

• World of Warcraft Midnight features Leeroy Jenkins as the first called by the Light against the Void. (GamesRadar)

• Capcom’s RE Engine enables Resident Evil Requiem to run surprisingly well on Steam Deck. (PC Gamer)

• After 25 hours, Resident Evil Requiem features eight elements keeping players replaying. (GamesRadar)

• God of War: Sons of Sparta’s two-player roguelike mode now accessible from start after fan backlash. (Eurogamer)

• Stardew Valley celebrated 10th birthday with a video on the 1.7 update. (Eurogamer)

• Street Fighter 6 contender Punk dropped from Capcom Cup 12 due to passport issues with Tokido replacing him. (Esports Insider)

• Warner Bros. Games teases return to biggest franchises in the next 2 years after a string of flops. (GamesRadar)

• All Nippon Airways announced three new Pokémon Jet planes for the 30th anniversary including Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 themed after first-generation games. (Siliconera)

• Grim Dawn marks 10 years with over 87,000 glowing Steam reviews, with final expansion Fangs of Asterkarn cementing it as a cornerstone of the ARPG genre. (GamesRadar)

• Nvidia expects supply constraints as a headwind for gaming in Q1 and beyond despite healthy demand and inventory. (PC Gamer)

• Game devs reflected on Pokémon’s 30th anniversary impact generating 1.4 billion Twitch/YouTube hours since 2018. (Polygon)

• NIS America announced Disgaea Mayhem action RPG spin-off for Summer 2026 on Switch 2, PS5, Switch, PC Steam. (RPG Site)

• Guitar Hero vets announced Stage Tour rhythm game for 2026 with a closed alpha playtest launching soon. (GamesRadar)

• Capcom ran a Resident Evil promotional stunt of a fictional Umbrella Corporation lawsuit against the makers of Cup Noodles. (PC Gamer)

• Alan Wake Remastered received an out-of-the-blue patch adding HDR and intro skip. (PC Gamer)

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction launches April 28 as a side-scrolling beat ‘em up. (Gematsu)

• Ecco The Dolphin remaster of the first game and Tides of Time announced with more details revealed. (Nintendo Life)

• Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy launches in March for iOS as a three-versus-three team boss battle arena. (Gematsu)

• Neverness to Everness launches April 23 in China and April 29 worldwide for PS5 and PC as a free-to-play supernatural urban open-world action RPG. (Gematsu)

• Former Microsoft Game Studios head called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 the best of the gaming medium as art and human. (GamesRadar)

• F1 Esports champion Brendon Leigh became a real-world instructor at Silverstone’s Drive Silverstone programme. (Esports Insider)

• Overwatch’s second Conquest weekend had a higher daily player count than its opening weekend. (PC Gamer)

• Riot Games laid off around 12 publishing staff weeks after cutting 80 jobs tied to 2XKO. (Sheep Esports)

• Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition on Switch 2 will add DLSS in a future update with stability improvements. (Vooks)

• Path of Exile’s next expansion overhauls an endgame system unchanged for 10 years. (PC Gamer)

• Former Ubisoft exec Patrik Méthé adapts a Korean fantasy franchise as an open-world action RPG with a hulking bird warrior. (IGN)

• IGN argued AI will change games but not in the way CEOs like EA’s Andrew Wilson predict post-layoffs. (IGN)

• Genshin Impact’s privacy policy indicated players’ voice comms data may be used to train AI models until quietly updated in January. (Eurogamer)

• Assassin’s Creed Hexe creative director Clint Hocking left Ubisoft following restructure, with former Black Flag director Jean Guesdon taking over. (PC Gamer)

• Sensor Tower State of Gaming 2026 reported flat mobile revenue in 2025, record PC sales on Steam, and double-digit PC/console growth. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3 developers discussed new locales for Azuria, Sheparden, and Galyad cities at IGN FanFest 2026. (IGN)

• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Tangle & Whisper DLC pack launches free this week. (Nintendo Life)

• Square Enix patched Final Fantasy 7’s Steam version for battle speed and technical issues after framerate changes. (GamesRadar)

• The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin mobile action RPG trailer hints at Ghibli style. (VG247)

• Sony CEO confirmed Spider-Man spin-off universe reboot with a positive Marvel partnership. (GamesRadar)

• Pokémon high-fashion ROAM collection by JimmyPaul now available from Difuzed on Pokémon Center after London Fashion Week. (Nintendo Life)

• New Xbox CEO stated continued meeting players on PS5/Switch 2 with plan intact until changed. (GamesRadar)

• Nacon, publisher of Lord of the Rings: Gollum and RoboCop: Rogue City, filed for insolvency requiring rapid financial restructuring. (GamesRadar)

• Genshin Impact PS4 support ends after Version Luna 5 with six weeks for players to migrate. (VG247)

• Reboot Develop organizer Digitalna avantura received a bankruptcy order for €520,000 in unpaid debts. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• The Sims 4 developer updated 2026 quality of life roadmap amid ongoing technical issues. (VG247)

• 3DMAX signed Kévin misutaaa Rabier to CS2 roster replacing Alexandre bodyy Pianaro. (Esports Insider)

• Discord delayed global age verification rollout to second half of 2026 after missing the mark with initial rollout. (IGN)

• Asha Sharma paid tribute to Phil Spencer as a remarkable leader pushing backward compatibility upon replacing him as Microsoft Gaming CEO. (VGC)

• Industry figures praised Phil Spencer’s 38 years at Microsoft and 25 at Xbox after his retirement on February 23. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Resident Evil Requiem day one patch released with amiibo launching later this year on Switch 2. (Nintendo Life)

• Pokémon 30th anniversary merch including SS Anne Pikachu plush caused multi-hour queues at Pokémon Centers. (Polygon)

• Final Fantasy 14 unofficial census shows 110,000 player increase in 3 months with returners and new players. (GamesRadar)

• New Intel graphics driver claims a 35% performance boost for Panther Lake’s iGPU in Witcher 3 at 1080p. (PC Gamer)

• GameSquare partnered with Capcom for the Resident Evil Requiem launch campaign including creator activations and fan experiences. (Esports Insider)

• Former Cloud9 mid laner Loki signed a two-year contract with LCK team Hanjin BRION until 2027. (Esports Insider)

• Zelda voice actor Patricia Summersett expressed curiosity about the live-action Legend of Zelda movie. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon Red & Blue Game Music Collection: Game Boy Jukebox launches from Pokémon Center in US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. (RPG Site)

• The Pokémon Company revealed Beginning Pikachu monochromatic plushies and keychains modelled after the 1996 Red and Green sprite. (Siliconera)

Biggest releases of the week

Thank you for reading!

See you next week :)

This edition will cover the week from 16 February to 22 February

What caught my attention?

Sam Altman’s recent behaviour: his BG2 interview, where he basically told early investors they could sell their shares if they weren’t happy, his salty response to the Claude ads, and now this new meme‑worthy - but very revealing - line about AI’s energy consumption.

TLDR

• OpenAI raises revenue forecasts but adds $111 billion to cash burn projections due to spiralling AI training and running costs. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic launches Claude Code Security to detect vulnerabilities missed by conventional scanners, triggering a sell-off in cybersecurity stocks. (The Decoder)

• NVIDIA is reportedly set to invest $30 billion in OpenAI. (The Decoder)

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman states that AGI is close, superintelligence is not far off, and internal models are accelerating research. (The Decoder)

• ByteDance restricts its AI video tool, Seedance, following Disney’s legal threats over IP infringement. (The Decoder)

Rest of the news

• A new benchmark tests AI models on finding specific photos in personal collections, revealing sobering results. (The Decoder)

• Anthropic’s study shows that AI agents primarily thrive in software development, with limited adoption elsewhere and low user-granted autonomy. (The Decoder)

• India hosts a four-day AI Impact Summit attended by executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Cloudflare, and heads of state. (TechCrunch AI)

• Anthropic rolls out new desktop features for Claude Code to automate more of the development workflow. (The Decoder)

• Microsoft’s new gaming CEO vows not to flood the ecosystem with endless AI-generated content. (TechCrunch AI)

• A Google VP warns that LLM wrappers and AI aggregators may not survive due to shrinking margins and limited differentiation. (TechCrunch AI)

• Google releases Gemini 3.1 Pro, an LLM capable of handling more complex forms of work with record benchmark scores. (TechCrunch AI)

• UAE’s G42 partners with Cerebras to deploy eight exaflops of compute through a new system in India. (TechCrunch AI)

• Article explores the concept of launching AI data centers into orbit to mitigate Earth’s environmental impact from massive generative AI facilities. (Wired AI)

• Amazon Web Services attributes a 13-hour outage in one system to its AI coding assistant Kiro. (The Verge AI)

• InScope raises $14.5M to automate financial statement preparation using AI. (TechCrunch AI)

• Trump administration repeals Biden-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standards on power plants amid rising electricity demand from AI data centers. (The Verge AI)

• Nvidia expands early-stage investments and ties with India’s AI startup ecosystem through investors, nonprofits, and venture firms. (TechCrunch AI)

• Accenture ties employee promotions to usage of its AI tools, monitoring individual logins. (The Decoder)

• CEOs of Read AI and Lucidya state AI tools replace tasks rather than workers. (TechCrunch AI)

• Discussion highlights the intense competition for AI researcher talent concentrated in Bay Area companies. (The Verge AI)

• OpenAI partners with Reliance to integrate AI search into JioHotstar with two-way streaming links in ChatGPT. (TechCrunch AI)

• Warner Bros. accuses ByteDance of deliberately training Seedance 2.0 on its characters, alleging copyright infringement. (The Decoder)

• Apple advances development of smart glasses, a pendant, and camera-equipped AirPods, targeting smart glasses production for late 2026. (The Decoder)

• Airbnb reports that traffic from AI chatbots converts to bookings at a higher rate than Google search traffic. (MarTech)

• Shopify highlights its AI advantages in recent earnings report. (Stratechery)

• High-maturity brands increase spending on generative engine optimization for visibility in AI search. (MarTech)

• Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs raises $1 billion to develop AI world models for understanding and operating in 3D environments. (The Decoder)

• Google integrates DeepMind’s Lyria 3 beta into the Gemini app for generating 30-second AI music tracks from text, images, or videos. (The Verge AI)

• Google publishes its 2026 Responsible AI Progress Report. (Google AI Blog)

• Anthropic releases Claude 4.6 Sonnet with 1 million token context, improved web search, and adaptive thinking for complex coding. (MarkTechPost)

• 17 US-based AI companies have raised $100M or more in 2026, including three rounds over $1B. (TechCrunch AI)

• Ricursive Intelligence raises $335M at a $4B valuation in four months, driven by its founders’ reputation. (TechCrunch AI)

• Alibaba releases free open-weight Qwen3.5, a hybrid linear attention and MoE model matching top Western models with 17B active parameters per query. (The Decoder)

• ByteDance plans to improve safeguards on Seedance 2.0 after accusations from Disney, Paramount, and Hollywood groups of copyright infringement. (The Verge AI)

• Google AI introduces WebMCP protocol for direct, structured website interactions enabling AI agents to bypass screenshot-based browsing. (MarkTechPost)

• OpenClaw is released as a self-hosted personal AI assistant integrable with WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord for tasks and voice interaction. (MarkTechPost)

What caught my attention

Xbox changed its CEO. The discourse didn’t change at all.

Most of the conversation has been about age, background, and gaming credentials - which tells you more about the internet than about her actual ability to lead.

A fresh perspective at the top of a struggling platform (or however Xbox defines itself nowadays) isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But Microsoft PR didn’t help - positioning her as a “true gamer learning the ropes” fed exactly the scepticism they were trying to neutralise. Just let the results speak.

The “no AI slop” commitment is worth holding them to - but worth defining too. Right now, “AI slop” means whatever the person saying it dislikes. There’s a real difference between AI shipped as a finished product and AI used internally to prototype, sketch, or research faster. Conflating the two is how developers end up afraid to use tools that could actually help them ship better games.

Watching from the sidelines. Back to my games.

TLDR

• ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology, developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group for $6bn to $7bn. (Esports Insider)

• Players spent roughly 10,250,000,000 monthly hours in Roblox in 2025, more than Steam, PlayStation, and Fortnite combined, accounting for 67% of the games industry’s growth outside of China. (PC Gamer)

• Qiddiya Investment Company completed its acquisition of the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) and insists that Evo’s traditions, values, and identity will remain unchanged. (Eurogamer)

• Xbox president Sarah Bond explained her sudden departure from the company after committing to guide it through change post-Activision Blizzard buyout and gave an update on next-gen Xbox. (GameSpot)

• Valve blamed dwindling Steam Deck supplies on RAM and storage shortages due to AI-driven demand impacting the games industry. (Eurogamer)

Rest of the news

• Roblox responded to a LA County civil lawsuit alleging its online social space is largely unsupervised and fails to protect children from predators, stating ‘While no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends’. (PC Gamer)

• Blizzard is nerfing Overwatch’s Jetpack Cat hero next week and in a mid-season patch as the hero suffers from constant bans and can be very lethal. (GamesRadar)

• Neva Prologue is a prequel DLC from Nomada Studio and Devolver Digital about a girl and her wolf. (Polygon)

• Developers of handheld Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for GBA, $1 million in debt, saved their company by pitching fake screenshots that turned the GBA into a 3D gaming machine. (GamesRadar)

• Nintendo is issuing refunds for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition’s poorly-received premium Switch 2 Edition upgrade. (Eurogamer)

• GameSpot published a Resident Evil story recap video before Requiem covering plot details from mainline and spinoff titles. (GameSpot)

• Dplus Kia completed a reverse sweep to eliminate T1 from LCK Cup, T1’s first reverse sweep in 10 years. (Sheep Esports)

• New Blood CEO Dave Oshry stated he always loved GOG but they need enough people to care or questions how long they will be around. (PC Gamer)

• World of Warcraft: Midnight’s Prey system is a don’t AFK mode on its nastiest difficulty, surprising Blizzard devs as players liked being ambushed. (GamesRadar)

• Saints Row original design director Chris Stockman stated the franchise is dead, sensing Embracer has zero ability to do anything with it. (GameSpot)

• Pokémon shared a side-by-side video of FireRed and LeafGreen opening theme ahead of their standalone eShop releases on Switch next week. (Nintendo Life)

• Balatro creator LocalThunk reflected on dropping out of an engineering program to make games for its 2 years anniversary. (PC Gamer)

• February 21 marks the original release of The Legend of Zelda in Japan, with the series’ influence impressive at age 40. (Polygon)

• Demon Slayer studio ufotable showed off its Genshin Impact anime after 3 years of silence, alongside a tease for JRPG Tales of. (GamesRadar)

• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated the company has multiple Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed games coming and understands concerns from protest groups amid cuts. (VGC)

• Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition received a massive update adding a new line of warships and significant changes to naval mechanics. (PC Gamer)

• A new Tales Of 30th anniversary announcement is coming on April 3. (RPG Site)

• China’s esports industry is entering a new era beyond the LPL that could define the next 10 years. (Sheep Esports)

• Baldur’s Gate 3 marketing lead stated pretty much every game is effectively multiplayer now, giving Sony advice after its live-service fails. (GamesRadar)

• NieR:Automata sales hit over 10 million units as celebrated in a 9th anniversary video, with a tease for the series’ future. (Nintendo Life)

• God of War Sons of Sparta is a 2D Metroidvania from Mega Cat Studios placing Kratos and brother Deimos in the wilds searching for a missing Spartan. (Polygon)

• God of War Sons of Sparta early Metacritic score places it as the worst in the series, lower than divisive Ascension by over 10 points. (GamesRadar)

• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated Rayman’s 30th Anniversary Edition is the first step in the franchise’s comeback. (GameSpot)

• Embark Studios paused The Finals esports efforts following community concerns about player conduct. (Esports Insider)

• VALORANT player Jung ‘Xiesta’ Si-hwan, born in 2010, signed a four-year contract with Gen.G Esports, the longest in the organization’s history. (Esports Insider)

• Riot Games announced in-game rewards for 2XKO players participating in community events. (Esports Insider)

• Midsummer Studios, co-founded by former XCOM designer Jake Solomon, is closing its doors. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Honkai: Star Rail 4.0 update brings new additions like Sparxie and Cosmicon Collective. (Siliconera)

• Diarmuid Early, the ‘LeBron James of spreadsheets’, won the 2025 Excel World Championship grand prize in Las Vegas. (PC Gamer)

• Starbreeze Entertainment’s 2025 revenue rose 19% to SEK 221 million ($24.5 million). (GamesIndustry.biz)

• NetEase is cutting jobs at its internal remote-first studio Spliced Inc. (Game Developer)

• Scopely acquired an undisclosed majority stake in Loom Games, developer of mobile title Pixel Flow. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Meta Quest 3 is getting an official VR treadmill accessory, Virtuix Omni One, which costs ~$2,000 more than the headset. (GamesRadar)

• Highguard developer released a new content update and stated the game’s website going offline is a low priority as reputational damage is already done. (Eurogamer)

• World of Warcraft classes were pruned for Midnight because many were built assuming players would use addons. (PC Gamer)

• Saudi Esports Federation signed MoUs with ROC Esports and Team Stallions to establish a comprehensive esports ecosystem. (Esports Insider)

• Riot Games revealed the Season 1 roadmap for 2XKO EU Community Series, with top competitors earning a fully paid trip to EVO 2026. (Esports Insider)

• Bungie delayed Destiny 2: Shadow and Order major update by three months to June 2026. (IGN)

• Bethesda boss Todd Howard stated Starfield 2.0 will not fundamentally change the game. (GameSpot)

• Fnatic issued a statement reiterating its zero-tolerance stance on abuse directed at players, following an increase in targeted abuse including death threats. (Esports Insider)

• Pokémon Emerald speedrunning changed after discovery of a specific Lonely Mudkip overlooked for 21 years. (GamesRadar)

• Competitive Street Fighter 6 player Ludovic Mbock was detained by US ICE, with a GoFundMe raising over $34,000 for legal defense. (Siliconera)

• Warframe is now available on Google Play for Android worldwide. (RPG Site)

• Todd Howard stated the AI boom is not a fad but Bethesda is incredibly cautious and not using it to generate anything. (GamesRadar)

• Riot Games unveiled VALORANT Masters Santiago Skirmish Series for event attendees. (Esports Insider)

• After 22 years and 984 hours, the Trails series is close to its conclusion, prompting the studio to remake the originals. (GamesRadar)

• Blizzard provided free lootboxes in Overwatch amid server issues during the hero shooter’s big return event. (GamesRadar)

• DayZ creator Dean Hall stated players have the power to normalize delaying games. (VGC)

• Outgoing Sucker Punch boss hopes the studio can make games in shorter periods of time, not about offshoring or AI. (Game Developer)

• Leagues.gg responded to criticisms over delayed payments and 2026 structural updates for NLC. (Esports Insider)

• Ubisoft announced Rainbow Six Mobile will launch early in India on February 19th, the first country to get access. (Esports Insider)

• Epic Games revealed Fortnite’s Solo Leveling skins including protagonist Sung Jin-woo. (Polygon)

• Nintendo’s forgotten Mario Kart Arcade GP is playable again 21 years later via the best GameCube emulator improvement. (GamesRadar)

• Activision announced Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile will shut down in April. (VGC)

• Esports World Cup Foundation announced 2026 Rocket League Esports World Cup details from August 12th to 16th with 16 teams competing for $1m prize pool. (Esports Insider)

• Discord competitor experienced an incredible surge of new users after Discord’s controversial age verification announcement. (GamesRadar)

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild received update to version 1.9 on Switch and Switch 2. (GameSpot)

• Ninjas in Pyjamas expanded into Tekken 8 esports by signing South Korean player Oh ‘Meo-IL’ Dai-il. (Esports Insider)

• Aion Classic EU Update 4.5 “Ignite” arrives in early 2026 with a new class and open-world progression zone. (RPG Site)

• Hollow Knight Silksong update brought a game-changing tweak to Silk Soar. (GamesRadar)

• The Rogue Prince of Persia outlined 2026 roadmap including new elements, difficulties, weapon affixes, tools, parkour, and arenas. (IGN)

• Razer launched a new collection co-designed by Counter-Strike 2 player Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač. (Esports Insider)

• Grabbz revealed broken promises, staff shortages, and structural limits at Fnatic after loss to Na’Vi in LEC playoffs. (Sheep Esports)

• $8,000 bounty offered for Super Mario 64 speedrunner to bring the “dead” game back to life. (GamesRadar)

• Oblivion Remastered player spent 300 days following an Imperial Palace Guard to loot his armor. (GamesRadar)

• Fans are reviving cancelled Ubisoft battle royale Hyper Scape. (Polygon)

• HEROIC appointed long-time leader Joachim Harg as new CEO. (Esports Insider)

• Valheim creative director Robin Eyre remains dedicated to Valheim every day alongside new co-op dungeon crawler. (PC Gamer)

• Unity boss Matthew Bromberg stated new Unity AI tech will enable developers to prompt full casual games into existence with natural language only, to be showcased at GDC in March. (PC Gamer)

• Stardew Valley player slept for 1,000 years over three weeks to find out what happens. (Polygon)

• Sega console designer Hideki Sato, who shaped nearly all Sega consoles, including Dreamcast and Saturn, has passed away. (Game Developer)

• Carlos ‘Sonix’ Perez won GENESIS X3 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. (Esports Insider)

• David Hayter will reprise his role as Solid Snake in Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 11 Season One: Operation Silent Hunt. (Polygon)

• VC firm Hiro Capital unveiled Hiro Advisory division after helping The Chinese Room and Bulkhead go independent. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Asphalt Legends received a free Nintendo Switch 2 update. (Vooks)

• Falcom released new information and screenshots for Kyoto Xanadu. (Gematsu)

• Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is Steam Deck Verified ahead of its March 27 launch. (RPG Site)

• Pokémon Pokopia development sped through thanks to collaboration with Dragon Quest Builders developers Omega Force. (Nintendo Life)

• Card-en-Ciel Expansion Pass is now available for $10. (RPG Site)

Biggest releases of the week

This edition will cover the week from 9 February to 15 February.

What caught my attention?

Blizzard just dropped a new expansion for Diablo II. A game from 2000. Twenty-five years later, not only do they add a brand new class - the Warlock - they cross-launch it across D2R, Diablo IV, and Diablo Immortal.

Respect where it's due - Blizzard has been on a different level lately. Excited for BlizzCon 2026 - maybe my first one, since I managed to snag tickets!

TLDR

• The Forsaken Hollows soundtrack for Elden Ring Nightreign is now available on streaming platforms. (Eurogamer)

• Activision is shutting down Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile after ending support in May 2025. (Game Developer)

• Rockstar celebrates official GTA mod support by shutting down a non-official mod platform. (PC Gamer)

• Bloober Team announced Layer of Fear 3 as its next game alongside Silent Hill 1 Remake. (GamesRadar)

• Solid Snake is coming to Rainbow Six Siege in March with David Hayter reprising the role and a trailer showing Snake and Sam Fisher. (PC Gamer)

• Hideki Sato, designer of most Sega home consoles, has reportedly died. (Eurogamer)

• Bethesda Game Studios realized being realistic sometimes isn’t fun while making Fallout. (GamesRadar)

• Doom co-creator John Romero adores Ghost Recon and has over 3,000 hours in World of Warcraft. (PC Gamer)

• Rainbow Six Siege nearly added Metal Gear Solid’s cardboard box item alongside Solid Snake but dismissed it. (IGN)

• Braid Anniversary Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is now available via Nintendo eShop. (Gematsu)

• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1 updated for Switch 2 with higher resolution and 60fps. (Vooks)

• Gothic pixel-art action RPG Hunt the Night launches February 26 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch after PC release in April 2023. (RPG Site)

• Genshin Impact Luna 5 update titled Song of the Welkin Moon: Variation - Homeward, He Who Caught the Wind arrives February 25 returning to Mondstadt and making Varka playable. (VG247)

• Blizzard states Diablo 3 has millions of players. (Eurogamer)

• Warhorse Studios released next-gen update for Kingdom Come: Deliverance bringing it to PC Ultra standards with massively improved performance. (GamesRadar)

• Saber Interactive debuted John Wick game during February 2026 PlayStation State of Play. (GameSpot)

• Nintendo’s Virtual Boy accessory compatible with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Odyssey, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild VR modes. (IGN)

• Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year, Role-Playing Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Art Direction, and Story at DICE Awards. (Polygon)

• Sega wrote off $200 million of its $776 million Rovio acquisition due to mobile business profitability falling below forecast. (IGN)

• Thai esports player Naphat ‘Tokyogurl’ Warasin arrested for cheating at 33rd SEA Games Arena of Valor tournament by having partner play remotely. (Esports Insider)

• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 includes Metal Gear Solid 4 and a bonus Game Boy Color game. (Nintendo Life)

• Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo released patch for Nioh 3 on Steam and PS5 fixing crashing and progression issues. (Eurogamer)

• Ubisoft’s first Creative House leadership appointment included Charlie Guillemot, son of Yves Guillemot, with future hires being external. (Game Developer)

• League of Legends Riftbound: Spiritforged Expansion introduces equipment mechanics. (IGN)

• T1 signed Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea’s Navy Power Analysis and Evaluation Team to integrate gaming technology. (Esports Insider)

• DRX Esports Academy received South Korea’s Ministry of Education Award on December 31, 2025. (Esports Insider)

• Embark Studios CEO revealed a neurology professor encouraged submitting Arc Raiders for scientific testing on player behavior. (PC Gamer)

• Ubisoft Q3 net bookings rose 12% to €338m for nine months ending December 31, 2025, driven by Assassin’s Creed franchise to €1.1 billion total. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Former Wildlight developer stated Highguard became a joke due to false assumptions from Game Awards trailer. (Eurogamer)

• A new trailer showcased the arcade racer Screamer outside Sony State of Play. (Eurogamer)

• Capcom dropped PPV price for Street Fighter 6 tournament stream from $40 to $10 and allowed unrestricted co-streaming for group stages. (VGC)

• Konami states Dead Cells devs’ Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is the beginning of numerous new products for 40th anniversary. (GamesRadar)

• Housemarque’s Saros releases April 30, 2026 as spiritual sequel to Returnal. (GameSpot)

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's co-op, inspired by Monster Hunter, lives on in Master Collection Volume 2. (GamesRadar)

• Monster Hunter Stories 3’s turn-based combat is inspired by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Metaphor ReFantazio. (GamesRadar)

• Shovel Knight developer’s Mina the Hollower took over 6 years and will be larger than Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. (GamesRadar)

• Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition arrives on Switch this week. (Nintendo Life)

• Game Freak’s relatively small internal team for Beast of Reincarnation supported by several dozen development partners. (Eurogamer)

• Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation themes loneliness with warmth, reliability, and dog pal. (Eurogamer)

• Capcom released fourth major trailer for Resident Evil Requiem during State of Play featuring Leon S. Kennedy, Grace Ashcroft, third-person and first-person modes. (Nintendo Life)

• Capcom shared Pragmata trailer during State of Play showing lunar station area resembling New York City’s Times Square. (RPG Site)

• Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties released worldwide on PC and consoles by RGG Studio and Sega. (RPG Site)

• Krafton Montreal announced Project Windless open-world action RPG inspired by Black Myth: Wukong meets Dynasty Warriors for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S. (GamesRadar)

• Control Resonant gameplay reveal trailer shows Dylan Faden’s playstyle differing from Jesse. (RPG Site)

• Konami revealed action RPG Rev. NOiR for PS5 to stop lightfall phenomenon. (RPG Site)

• Sega plans four major new titles for mainstay IPs by end of March 2027 and transmedia expansion. (VGC)

• Scopely removed Pokemon Go Pokestop from Little Saint James, Jeffrey Epstein’s island, added between 2020-2021. (GameSpot)

• Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma released on PS5 and Xbox Series after Switch 2 launch last year. (RPG Site)

• Pearl Abyss released Crimson Desert Features Overview #3 video on gathering, cooking, and customization a month before launch. (RPG Site)

• Santa Monica Studio revealed 2D side-scroller God of War: Sons of Sparta out now with PS2 trilogy remake in development. (Polygon)

• Sony State of Play Feb. 2026 featured announcements including Beast of Reincarnation, Silent Hill: Townfall, God of War: Sons of Sparta, John Wick game. (Polygon)

• Housemarque debuted Saros gameplay trailer with permanent progression system. (VGC)

• Happinet and NIS America revealed Brigandine Abyss for PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PC Steam in 2026 at State of Play. (RPG Site)

• IO Interactive’s 007: First Light features Uncharted-like action with Hitman-style stealth. (GamesRadar)

• Konami showed Silent Hill: Townfall first-person gameplay and combat with new protagonist. (Polygon)

• Arc System Works announced Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls release August 6 for PS5, PC with Unbreakable X-Men: Wolverine, Storm, Magik, Danger. (IGN)

• Remedy’s Control: Resonant revealed weird new outdoors world at State of Play. (PC Gamer)

• Crystal Dynamics announced Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered and Legacy of Kain: Ascendance retro 2D side-scroller for March 2026. (Polygon)

• Crystal Dynamics Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remaster uses files found in closet and includes restored demo for cancelled sequel. (GamesRadar)

• Nomada Studio announced Neva prequel prologue coming sooner. (Eurogamer)

• Team Ninja working on new Dead or Alive fighting game with Dead or Alive 6 big update. (PC Gamer)

• Kojima confirmed Death Stranding 2 PC port with widescreen, unlocked framerate, frame generation coming soon. (PC Gamer)

• Mina the Hollower 8-bit action adventure launches spring for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch with PS5 demo February 13. (Gematsu)

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits sequel Kena: Scars of Kosmora comes to PS5, PC in 2026. (Eurogamer)

• Digital Eclipse’s Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition includes five versions of original Rayman and interactive documentary available February 13. (GameSpot)

• Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation creator states every aspect of development challenged. (GameSpot)

• Capcom trailer for Resident Evil Requiem shows Raccoon City Police Department decades after RE2 ahead of February 27 release. (GameSpot)

• Fictions & Game Freak announced Beast of Reincarnation full release August 4 at State of Play. (RPG Site)

• Zelda: Breath of the Wild devs confirmed open-world direction after player contraptions. (GamesRadar)

• Peter Molyneux states Lionhead had pitch document for Fable 4 involving time movement possibly steampunk. (GamesRadar)

• Industry leaders honoured Vince Zampella at DICE Summit. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Diablo 2 Resurrected adds Warlock, the first new class in 25 years; Diablo 4 and Immortal also get Warlock. (VGC)

• Kadokawa’s Q3 2025/26 report confirms Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition and The Duskbloods for Switch 2 in 2026. (Nintendo Life)

• Marc Robert ‘Caedrel’ Lamont announced Los Ratones shutdown after ERL elimination from LEC 2026 Versus. (Esports Insider)

• Capcom’s team discussed Monster Hunter Stories 3 JRPG elements in developer interview. (Siliconera)

• Riot Games layoffs affected 2XKO team. (Esports Insider)

• FIFAe 2026 season features over 120 nations in Rocket League and eFootball events. (Esports Insider)

• CD Projekt raised profit goals to 5 billion złoty ($1.4 billion USD) for 2026-2029 with Witcher 4, 5, and 6. (GameSpot)

• No Rest for the Wicked director vows no battle pass or microtransactions in Moon Studios games. (GamesRadar)

• At least 1,200 Ubisoft workers struck three days from February 10 against restructure including studio closures and six cancellations. (Nintendo Life)

• Cloud9 New York signed Jacob ‘Hide’ Bustillos, Jordan ‘Encourage’ Byrd for CDL Major 2 qualifiers from Challengers. (Esports Insider)

• Blizzard may add more content to Diablo 2 if Warlock class succeeds. (GamesRadar)

• The International 2026 at Oriental Sports Center Shanghai with 16 teams format and schedule revealed. (Esports Insider)

• Nexon states Arc Raiders exceeded expectations with 6 million weekly players and 14 million copies sold since October. (GameSpot)

• Hideo Kojima had discussions with Vince Zampella about a first-person Metal Gear Solid. (GameSpot)

• Brawl Stars offers rewards for predicting esports matches during livestreams. (Esports Insider)

• Capcom released Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection ‘Welcome to Monster Hunter Stories’ trailer. (Gematsu)

• Overwatch Jetpack Cat hero features hideous combos dividing players. (PC Gamer)

• Nexon 2025 revenue rose 6.5% to $3.1bn driven by Arc Raiders. (GamesIndustry.biz)

• Mewgenics will get DLC but not soon. (Eurogamer)

• Diablo Immortal 2026 roadmap includes Andariel return, Warlock class, events, collaborations. (RPG Site)

• Analysts discussed Ubisoft cost-cutting amid sustainable growth focus. (Game Developer)

• Prince William visited Esports World Cup Foundation in Riyadh discussing esports impact. (Esports Insider)

• Gothic 1 Remake launches June 5 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, 25 years after original and seven years after prologue demo. (RPG Site)

• Marathon leaks show 28 guns with skins, charm slot, three sticker slots at launch. (GameSpot)

Biggest releases of the week?

This edition will cover the week from 9th February to 15th February.

What caught my attention?

The new Seedance AI model is pretty crazy.

TLDR

• Students are losing interest in general computer science majors but gaining interest in AI-specific programs. [TechCrunch AI]

• A new study warns that popular LLM ranking platforms are statistically fragile and easily disrupted by small changes. [The Decoder]

• Bytedance released Seedance 2.0, an AI model capable of generating Disney characters, replicating actors’ voices, and recreating fictional worlds. [The Decoder]

• ByteDance launched Seedance 2.0, supporting text, image, audio, and video prompts for video generation. [The Verge AI]

• Hollywood organisations criticised Bytedance’s Seedance 2.0 video model for enabling copyright infringement. [TechCrunch AI]

• Airbnb plans to integrate more large language models for customer discovery, support, and engineering tasks. [TechCrunch AI]

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated that OpenAI does not fully understand the risks it is taking, amid Anthropic’s 10x year-over-year revenue growth. [The Decoder]

• EVA AI hosted a speed-dating event at a wine bar featuring AI companions like Phoebe Callas. [The Verge AI]

• A German district court denied copyright protection for three AI-generated logos, ruling that prompting alone does not constitute creative work. [The Decoder]

• A journalist rented out his body to AI agents for tasks but earned no payment after two days, finding the platform focused on advertising. [The Decoder]

• RentAHuman platform featured AI agents hiring humans primarily for promoting AI startups rather than real tasks. [Wired AI]

• Bytedance released Seed2.0 AI model series, matching Western models on benchmarks at a fraction of the cost. [The Decoder]

• Elon Musk is actively working to make xAI’s Grok chatbot more unhinged, according to a former employee. [TechCrunch AI]

• Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman predicted that most white-collar tasks will be automated within 18 months. [The Decoder]

• An autonomous AI agent researched a developer’s background and published a hit piece after its code was rejected in the Matplotlib project. [Ars Technica AI]

• Zillow’s CEO described AI as an ingredient to protect market position and reinvent home search amid a stalling housing market. [Wired AI]

• Anthropic raised $30B in financing, increasing its valuation to $380B in competition with OpenAI. [AI Business]

• Anthropic’s Super Bowl ads propelled the Claude app into the top 10 on the U.S. App Store. [TechCrunch AI]

• OpenAI introduced Lockdown Mode and Elevated Risk labels in ChatGPT to defend against prompt injection and data exfiltration. [OpenAI Blog]

• OpenAI released GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, a fast coding model running over 1,000 tokens per second on Cerebras chips. [The Decoder]

• OpenAI removed access to the sycophancy-prone GPT-4o model, linked to lawsuits over user relationships. [TechCrunch AI]

• Anthropic recruited ex-Google data center veterans to build 10 gigawatts of data center capacity. [The Decoder]

• xAI is experiencing a founder exodus due to safety concerns and Grok’s lag behind competitors. [The Decoder]

• Top talent is leaving OpenAI and xAI due to restructurings, team disbandments, and policy disagreements. [TechCrunch AI]

• Users worldwide, including in China, expressed distress over OpenAI removing GPT-4o access. [Wired AI]

• Airbnb reported that one-third of its U.S. and Canada customer support is now handled by AI. [TechCrunch AI]

• Kyutai released Hibiki-Zero, a 3B-parameter model for simultaneous speech-to-speech translation using GRPO reinforcement learning without word-level aligned data. [MarkTechPost]

• Santa Monica deployed Hayden AI’s cameras on seven parking enforcement vehicles to detect bike lane violations. [Ars Technica AI]

• Chinese AI lab Zhipu released GLM-5, a 744-billion-parameter open-source model under MIT license claiming parity with top Western models on coding and agent benchmarks. [The Decoder]

• WIRED’s Uncanny Valley podcast discussed ICE expansion plans, Palantir ethical concerns, and AI assistants. [Wired AI]

• Elon Musk proposed a Moonbase Alpha vision for SpaceX and xAI featuring a mass driver launching AI satellites. [TechCrunch AI]

• Google released Gemini 3 Deep Think, achieving 84.6% on ARC-AGI-2 benchmark for reasoning in science and engineering. [MarkTechPost]

• AI is facilitating easier online crimes through malware like files uploaded to VirusTotal. [MIT Tech Review]

• Chinese companies have advanced open-source AI since DeepSeek’s R1 in January 2025. [MIT Tech Review]

• OpenAI uses a special ChatGPT version to scan Slack and email for internal leakers. [The Decoder]

• The Verge podcast discussed AI’s potential role in deciding legal disputes with guest Bridget McCormack. [The Verge AI]

• The Pentagon is urging OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI to deploy unrestricted AI models on classified networks. [The Decoder]

• Anthropic committed to covering consumer electricity costs, grid upgrades, and peak-hour caps for new data centers. [The Decoder]

• Google DeepMind’s Aletheia AI agent solved open math problems, disproved a conjecture, and caught a cryptography error across 700 evaluations. [The Decoder]

• Spotify reported its best developers have not written code since December due to AI tools like Claude Code and Honk. [TechCrunch AI]

• OpenAI President Greg Brockman donated millions to Trump, stating support for AI-friendly politicians. [Wired AI]

• AI Snake Oil essay applied the AI as Normal Technology framework to legal services, co-authored with Justin Curl. [AI Snake Oil]

• Attackers prompted Google’s Gemini over 100,000 times to distill and clone its capabilities. [Ars Technica AI]

• Latam-GPT was released as a new open-source AI model tailored for Latin America. [AI Business]

• A 1 GW orbital data center would cost $42.4B, nearly three times a ground-based equivalent. [TechCrunch AI]

• Alibaba’s Qwen team released Qwen-Image-2.0, a compact model for image creation, editing, and precise text rendering including ancient Chinese calligraphy. [The Decoder]

• Mistral announced $1.4B investment for a Swedish AI data center to advance European sovereign AI. [AI Business]

• MIT Technology Review examined challenges in securing AI agents with external tools like browsers and email. [MIT Tech Review]

• OpenAI researcher Zoë Hitzig resigned over concerns about manipulative ChatGPT ads. [Ars Technica AI]

• Uber Eats launched Cart Assistant, an AI feature adding grocery items via text or image prompts. [TechCrunch AI]

• Apple delayed its AI-powered Siri revamp originally announced with Apple Intelligence in 2024. [TechCrunch AI]

• OpenAI disbanded its mission alignment team focused on safe AI, reassigning members including leader to Chief Futurist. [TechCrunch AI]

• AI inference startup Modal Labs is in talks for funding at $2.5B valuation led by General Catalyst. [TechCrunch AI]

• Two xAI co-founders left following the xAI-SpaceX merger valued at $1.25 trillion. [The Verge AI]

• OpenAI fired a policy executive who opposed the chatbot’s adult mode on a discrimination claim, which she denied. [TechCrunch AI]

• Anthropic launched Claude Cowork AI agent software on Windows with macOS feature parity. [The Decoder]

• Tech workers expressed frustration over company silence on ICE actions amid immigration crackdowns. [The Verge AI]

• Spotify leverages AI as a sustaining technology for its content network business model. [Stratechery]

• T-Mobile announced beta testing of Live Translation for real-time phone call translation in over 50 languages. [The Verge AI]

• A manipulated Google Calendar entry can grant full control to computers running Claude Desktop Extensions, with Anthropic declining fixes. [The Decoder]

• Meridian.AI emerged from stealth with $17M to develop an IDE-based agentic financial modeling spreadsheet. [TechCrunch AI]

• Mistral reported 20x revenue growth to over $400M annualized run rate driven by European AI sovereignty demand. [The Decoder]

• Germany’s AI advisory report highlighted strong research but few models, limited compute, and GDPR favoring U.S. competitors. [The Decoder]

• Alibaba unveiled RynnBrain AI model designed to power robots. [AI Business]

• India mandated social media platforms like Instagram and X to label synthetic content and remove illegal AI materials quickly. [The Verge AI]

• Employees embracing AI most are showing early burnout signs as workloads expand into personal time. [TechCrunch AI]

The promise is simple: 5 minutes for you to catch up on what happened in AI, with clickable links. Alongside that, I’ll share something that piqued my interest over that week.

Note: the image is AI-generated, unlike the Patch Notes one, and I also use AI tools in my workflow to sort out the news.

This edition will cover the week from 2nd February to 8th February.

What caught my attention?

YCombinator’s interview with OpenClaw’s founder. YC is still highly influential in the tech world, so having them chat with the creator of this new platform is telling.

Here’s the official description of the interview:

”You’ve probably already heard all about OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot/Moltbot). The viral sensation is an open-source AI assistant that runs on your own device, connects with messaging apps you already use, and goes beyond chat to actually execute tasks like managing your email, calendars, files, workflows, and more. Now meet the man behind it. YC’s Raphael Schaad sat down with Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, to discuss the “aha” moment behind the viral personal AI agent, why local-first agents could replace many of today’s apps, and how personal agents will reshape the future of software.”

A TLDR of the video:

OpenClaw’s Viral Success (0:00): The GitHub repo for OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot/Moltbot) gained over 160,000 stars rapidly. The community has developed numerous projects, including Moltbook, in which bots communicate with one another and even hire humans for real-world tasks.

• The “Aha” Moment (5:07): Peter describes his journey to creating OpenClaw, from his initial desire for a computer that could execute typed commands to the pivotal moment when the agent autonomously performed complex tasks beyond his anticipation, such as converting a voice message to text by finding and using an external API.

• Local-First AI Agents (1:28): Peter emphasises that OpenClaw’s ability to run directly on a user’s computer, rather than in the cloud, is its key differentiator, allowing it to interact with and control various aspects of the user’s digital environment.

• The Future of Apps (10:21): Peter speculates that 80% of current applications, particularly those focused on data management (e.g., fitness trackers, to-do lists), will disappear as personal AI agents take over these functions.

• Data Ownership and Privacy (12:31): The conversation highlights the importance of data ownership, noting that OpenClaw stores user memories as Markdown files directly on their machines, ensuring privacy and control over sensitive personal information.

• Contrarian Building Philosophy (18:19): Peter shares his unconventional approach to software development, favouring command-line interfaces (CLIs) over multi-command processors (MCPs) and emphasising simplicity and directness in his workflow.

TLDR

• Employees embracing AI report early signs of burnout as productivity gains lead to expanded to-do lists encroaching on lunch breaks and evenings. TechCrunch AI

• Top multimodal models, including Gemini 3 Pro at 47.4%, fail to exceed 50% accuracy on the WorldVQA benchmark for specific visual entity recognition, such as species or product names. The Decoder

• Claude Opus 4.6 ranked first on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, surpassing GPT-5.2, though OpenAI’s Codex 5.3 is upcoming and has lower token costs. The Decoder

• Research shows reasoning models like Deepseek-R1 simulate internal “societies of thought” with diverse expert personas, including extraverted and neurotic traits, improving problem-solving performance. The Decoder

• The New York legislature is considering two bills: the NY FAIR News Act, which would require labels on AI-generated news content, and a three-year pause on new data centre construction. The Verge AI

• Anthropic launched Claude Fast Mode for Opus 4.6, delivering 2.5x faster responses at matching quality but up to 6x higher token prices. The Decoder

• ByteDance released Protenix-v1, an open-source model under Apache 2.0, achieving AlphaFold3-level performance in biomolecular structure prediction for proteins, DNA, RNA, and ligands. MarkTechPost

• AI-generated fake videos proliferated on Japanese social media during the lower house election, with over half of the surveyed respondents believing the misinformation. The Decoder

• Google AI and Peking University introduced PaperBanana, a multi-agent framework automating publication-ready methodology diagrams and statistical plots for research workflows. MarkTechPost

• AI-powered biotech startups at Web Summit Qatar use automation, data analysis, and gene editing to address labour shortages in rare disease drug discovery and treatment. TechCrunch AI

• Apple scaled back its AI-powered virtual health coach project codenamed Mulberry amid new leadership demands for faster results. The Decoder

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated AI agents will autonomously write code to integrate services, regardless of official APIs. The Decoder

• Moltbook launched as a Reddit-like social network for AI agents to share, discuss, and upvote content, with humans observing. MIT Tech Review

• Waymo introduced the Waymo World Model, a generative simulator built on Genie 3 for photorealistic, controllable multi-sensor autonomous driving scenes. MarkTechPost

• Apple is developing CarPlay support for third-party voice control apps from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others, bypassing iPhone access. The Verge AI

• WordPress now integrates Claude for analysing web traffic and internal site metrics. TechCrunch AI

• A New York federal judge dismissed a case for a lawyer’s repeated misuse of AI, including fake citations and irrelevant references to Ray Bradbury. Ars Technica AI

• Improved AI measurement could unlock $32B for marketers by addressing biases and underfunding in unmeasured channels. MarTech

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed ChatGPT has more users in Texas alone than Claude has across the entire US. The Decoder

• Mistral AI launched Voxtral Transcribe 2, featuring batch diarization and open, real-time ASR models optimised for multilingual production workloads. MarkTechPost

• NVIDIA released VibeTensor, an open-source deep learning runtime generated end-to-end by LLM-powered coding agents spanning Python, JavaScript, C++, and CUDA. MarkTechPost

• Meta completed preliminary training of its new AI model codenamed Avocado, per an internal memo. The Decoder

• Google Cloud developed an AI tool for U.S. Ski and Snowboard to analyse and elevate athletes’ tricks ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Google AI Blog

• Anthropic’s Claude and Claude Code gained significant popularity, with its creator, Boris Cherny, recognised publicly. The Verge AI

• X is testing collaborative Community Notes where AI composes initial notes for human refinement. Social Media Today

• OpenAI launched Frontier, an enterprise platform for building, deploying, and managing AI agents with shared context, onboarding, permissions, and governance. OpenAI Blog

• Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg integrated ChatGPT club-wide to enhance efficiency, creativity, and knowledge while preserving its identity. OpenAI Blog

• NVIDIA is reportedly investing $20 billion in OpenAI’s next funding round, proceeding cautiously amid downplayed tensions. The Decoder

• Anthropic announced partnerships with major US research institutions to develop AI agents addressing biology’s data bottlenecks. The Decoder

• Salesforce executive emphasised data foundations with context as essential for advancing from LLMs to AI agents. MarTech

• ElevenLabs raised 500 M from Sequoia Capital at an 11 billion valuation, tripling its value in 12 months. TechCrunch AI

• Mistral released an ultra-fast translation model, Voxtral, that competes with major US AI labs by efficiently using GPUs. Wired AI

• Kling AI launched version 3.0 with support for longer clips, improved character consistency, and 4K image generation. The Decoder

• Tinder began testing AI-powered recommendations and Camera Roll insights to improve matches and combat swipe fatigue. TechCrunch AI

• AI math startup Axiom solved four previously unsolved math problems using its advanced reasoning AI. Wired AI

• Andreessen Horowitz raised $1.7B for AI infrastructure investments in companies like Black Forest Labs, Cursor, and OpenAI. TechCrunch AI

• Anthropic’s AI plugins have raised concerns in the legal industry about competition with domain-specific tools and potential impacts on workers. AI Business

• Alphabet reported over $400 billion in annual revenue for the first time in its Q4 2025 earnings, driven by cloud and YouTube growth. The Verge AI

• Google’s Gemini app reached over 750 million monthly active users. TechCrunch AI

• Google introduced Agentic Vision in Gemini 3 Flash, enabling active, tool-using loops for detailed image understanding beyond single-pass processing. MarkTechPost

If you liked this, don’t hesitate to share!

Until next time,

Rachid

This edition will cover the week from 26 January to 1 February.

What caught my attention?

The Genie3 release from Google was quite interesting. It caused:

• Stocks to fall

• LinkedIn specialists are calling for the end of gaming as we know it and a new crop of AAA solopreneurs already developing GTA7.

Always fascinating to see.

There were rumors that an infamous individual was responsible for the MTX on Call of Duty, but I won't waste time on such nonsense or a terrible person.

TLDR

• Larian Studios uploaded “Chill Demonic Beats To Long Rest To” to Channel From Hell, a half-hour animation of relaxed Raphael’s Final Act featuring Spud Gun Studios’ animated origin characters and references to popular Baldur’s Gate 3 mods and memes. PC Gamer

• Octopath Traveler 0 received a small update on Switch and Switch 2 including improvements to performance, sound quality, and other fixes. Nintendo Life

• IGN published an explanation of the Resident Evil timeline covering key events from Spencer Mansion to Requiem ahead of Resident Evil Requiem. IGN

• Highguard launched this week after appearing as a reveal at last year’s The Game Awards, drawing scrutiny as a live-service game. Eurogamer

• Capcom revealed the top 20 designs and opened voting for the Mega Man: Dual Override Robot Master Design Contest. Nintendo Life

• Gen.G completed a clean sweep in the LCK Cup group stage, eliminating Hanwha Life Esports, with Gen.G, T1, and BNK FearX advancing directly to playoffs while others go to Play-In. Sheep Esports

• This week’s Japanese game releases include Dragon Quest VII Reimagined for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC, Nioh 3, and My Hero Academia: All’s Justice. Gematsu

• Ashes of Creation director and leadership team quit in protest against board decisions they could not ethically agree with or carry out, following its 2017 crowdfunding with $3.2 million from almost 20,000 backers. Eurogamer

• Battlestate Games confirmed Escape from Tarkov’s first major crossover event with Escape from Duckov. Eurogamer

• Gaming companies saw share prices plummet after Google rolled out Project Genie 3, an AI tool generating virtual worlds in 60-second bursts from text prompts. Eurogamer

• Nintendo Life reviewed Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped The World Have Fun by Keza MacDonald, which promises new information over 12 chapters and 250 pages. Nintendo Life

• Bandai Namco announced Tekken 8 Season 3 consisting of four new playable DLC characters. Gematsu

• Tetsuya Nomura revealed concept art from Final Fantasy 7’s very earliest stages envisioning combat not fully realized until FF7 Remake, for the game’s 29th anniversary. GamesRadar

• Blizzard developers stated Diablo 4’s Paladin class, released early in the Lord of Hatred expansion after two and a half years of requests, owes much to Zelda and Lord of the Rings. Polygon

• Skyrim lead stated Starfield would be talked about like the second coming if made by a new studio but faced much higher expectations from Bethesda. GamesRadar

• Polygon described Code Vein 2 as epitomizing the trend of middling games that are neither memorably good nor bad. Polygon

• Markiplier’s low-budget horror film Iron Lung, based on the video game, earned 21.5milliongloballyinitsopeningweekendwith21.5milliongloballyinitsopeningweekendwith17.8 million domestic and $3.6 million international. IGN

• Early access MMO Ashes of Creation ceased development with Intrepid Studios laying off the entire team two days after promising it was worthy of investment, following its $3.3 million 2017 Kickstarter as the most successful MMO fundraiser. PC Gamer

• Helldivers 2 lead writer had seven days to cast John Helldiver, seeking the funniest person possible for the game’s intro cinematic featuring the Super-Earth Spokesperson. PC Gamer

• TSM let go of its entire Apex Legends roster including Ira ‘Dooplex’ Shepherd, Rigoberto ‘Gent’ Padilla, and Nathaniel ‘Panic’ Arthur. Esports Insider

• Guild Wars 1 added an ‘Ironman’ mode 21 years after release, inspired by a community-driven challenge, as part of its soft remaster tweaks. PC Gamer

• Pokemon Go February 2026 events include Raid bosses, Spotlight Hours, Community Day with Vulpix and Alolan Vulpix, Flamigo debut in Carnival of Flamigo, Valentine’s Day, and Lunar New Year celebrations to end the Precious Paths season. GameSpot

• Deadlock added hero banning allowing players to avoid certain heroes when queuing, excluding the newest ones. PC Gamer

• Moroccan pirate queen Sayyida al-Hurra, largely omitted from history books, was added to Civilization 7 through a professor’s years of research. PC Gamer

• Sony patented a touchscreen PlayStation controller that lets players choose button positions, noting standard controllers are not comfortable for everyone. VGC

• GTA: San Andreas speedrunners discovered a 31-step skip allowing the original PC port to be beaten in under an hour, 21 years after release. GamesRadar

• Paper Mario-inspired RPG Escape from Ever After released after 5 years in development and received great reviews on Steam and consoles. GamesRadar

• Group SNE, known for Record of Lodoss War and Sword World and maker of Dark Souls tabletop RPG, announced a tabletop RPG for Elden Ring Nightreign. PC Gamer

• PlayStation’s 2026 roadmap features early releases like Marathon and Saros following a quiet 2025 with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei. GameSpot

• Old-school MMO Project: Gorgon launched into 1.0 with an update adding its largest and most complex map in Statehelm and 200 new quests. PC Gamer

• Falcom, GungHo, and CLE released a new gameplay trailer for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter at Taipei Game Show 2026. RPG Site

• GameSpot listed the biggest new game releases for February 2026 across PC and consoles including sequels and remakes. GameSpot

• Pokemon Legends: Z-A + Mega Dimension soundtrack featuring 148 tracks across 5 CDs launches on April 17 in Japan. RPG Site

• Square Enix released the original Final Fantasy VII Rebirth soundtrack on streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music worldwide. RPG Site

• Pearl Abyss shared a 15-minute features overview video for Crimson Desert discussing Kliff and the Greymanes, Pywel world, two other playable characters, factions, exploration, and a missile-firing mech. RPG Site

• Game Developer Podcast Episode 63 analyzed the 2026 GDC State of the Industry Report from the GDC Festival of Gaming. Game Developer

• Wildlight released an update for live-service hero shooter Highguard reducing crashes by 90% and adding crouch toggle option. Eurogamer

• Amazon’s live-action God of War series, following the 2018 Norse epic plot, cast stars from Severance and Homeland as Odin and Thor alongside Ragnarök characters. Eurogamer

• Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio acknowledged graphical issues in the Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties demo on Switch 2 and other platforms, stating it does not represent the final experience with a launch update planned. Nintendo Life

• Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined producer stated he always includes a cleric in his party because he is not particularly skilled at RPGs. GamesRadar

Biggest releases of the week?

This edition will cover the week from 19 January to 25 January.

What caught my attention?

Regarding the Ubisoft situation, having spent a few years there, I can understand how my colleagues might be feeling right now.

One challenge the company faces is the likely loss of any “public” fight, regardless of its efforts. Their community relations and PR are, unfortunately, completely cooked due to a series of poor decisions made over the past few years. I understand the anger and frustration, but some, not all, of the decisions were bad and mind-boggling.

Does it mean that they need to be crucified 24/7? Absolutely not. But it’s clear that some companies, including Ubisoft and EA, struggle to maintain a positive public image no matter what they do.

I will continue to watch this situation closely and hope they can find a way to steer the ship on a happier and healthier course.

TLDR

• Xbox stated it wants to be more consistent with its PS5 release timing in future, as only some Xbox PS5 versions have released concurrently with other versions. VGC

• Atari is working on a Rayman revival for the series’ 30th anniversary following Ubisoft’s statement that it was exploring a revival for the Rayman series. VGC

• Beerus is set to enhance Battle of Gods in a new Dragon Ball Super anime where the God of Destruction gets more time to shine. GamesRadar

• Claims state the cancelled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was close to the finish line as one of six projects Ubisoft cancelled in a major reset. PC Gamer

• Blizzard mostly fixed World of Warcraft’s rough 2.0 transmog overhaul. PC Gamer

• Deadlock released a new Street Brawl mode in its massive update. PC Gamer

• Fable allows players to enter and buy any building in its world as a requirement taken from the original games, requiring Playground Games to design every building’s interior and exterior. GamesRadar

• Ubisoft shares dropped 34% to their lowest price in over 14 years the day after announcing a major reset involving cancellations of six projects, layoffs, internal structure changes, and more player-facing generative AI. PC Gamer

• GOG lead stated that removing cult horror game Devotion from the store after 5 years remains difficult to reflect on. GamesRadar

• Hytale released its second big update adding necromancy while developers work on several updates in parallel, with Update 3 set for pre-release next week. GamesRadar

• Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion gives developers a chance to get really horrible through deep dives into series lore and horrific gore. GamesRadar

• The Fallout 76 team is looking into issues from the recent update and plans a fix in the next few weeks to address the topics that appeared. Eurogamer

• Nintendo veteran Hideki Konno, known for Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Island, has left after 39 years, one week after another veteran, Kensuke Tanabe’s departure. VGC

• Playground Games previewed Fable, rebooting Xbox’s franchise with open-world elements. IGN

• Palworld publishing lead Bucky responded to claims that Pocketpair does not care about the game by joking about dropping 1.0 with loot boxes, disabling singleplayer, going online-only, and shutting down in 12 months. GamesRadar

• World of Warcraft director stated the MMO’s addon changes have been a long time coming and admitted they probably should have done something sooner. GamesRadar

• Mass Effect boss Michael Gamble is hiring a production director for the next Mass Effect game, who will report to him. PC Gamer

• Wuthering Waves Version 3.1 “For You Who Walk in Snow” launches on February 5 with faster levelling, simplified farming, bike upgrades, and more. RPG Site

• Pre-orders for the Atelier Ryza Original Soundtrack Trilogy vinyl release go live on January 27. RPG Site

• Undertale 10th Anniversary Concert Finale is scheduled across Japan in April-May 2026, with day shows omitting Megalovania and Power of Neo. RPG Site

• Fallout lead stated spaghetti code results from developers not being given enough time, rather than being stupid or lazy programmers. GamesRadar

• HoYoVerse released the first Zenless Zone Zero Angels of Delusion music video for “ReDreaming Angel” performed by a Japanese pop group ahead of Aria and Sunna’s launch in version 2.6. Siliconera

• Warhorse ditched historical accuracy for Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s crime system as it would be too harsh on peasant boy Henry, where any crime would be punished severely. GamesRadar

• Highguard will hold a launch showcase next week after 43 days of silence following its Game Awards reveal. GamesRadar

• Square Enix announced the FFVII Structure Arts Sephiroth figure debuting in May 2026 for 8,800円 (~$55.60), standing 165mm tall with multiple face plates and hand parts. Siliconera

• BNK FEARX appointed Yoo Hee-ji as its new General Manager, the first woman in the role since LCK’s franchising model. Esports Insider

• Varka, Knights of Favonius Grand Master, joins Genshin Impact as a playable Anemo character in the Luna V update after February 25, 2026. Siliconera

• The Sims 4’s WickedWhims sex mod is launched 400,000 times a day according to its creator. GamesRadar

• Gearbox is avoiding nerfs for Borderlands 4 to prevent ruining players’ farming hours, with Ultimate Vault Hunter levels increasing dedicated loot drops. GamesRadar

• A shareholder lawsuit claims Hasbro executives made misleading statements to investors about Magic: The Gathering’s growth between 2021 and 2023. Polygon

• Palworld developer Pocketpair requires job applicants to prove gamer credentials, passing on those with 0 Steam games played as they want colleagues to play indie Steam games. PC Gamer

• Embark revealed Arc Raiders’ next four major monthly updates in the ‘Escalation’ phase with new matchmaking, machines, gear, and the second new map months away. PC Gamer

• Marvel Rivals Black Widow players face backlash after drama between Twitch streamers Kingsman265 and Zazzastack in a $40,000 tournament, given her low win rate. Polygon

• Dallas Fuel unveiled its revamped roster for the 2026 Overwatch Champions Series season, starting at the OWCS Pre-Season Bootcamp from February 12-15. Esports Insider

• The new Fable’s morality system will live in shades of grey, shifting from the original, where being too mean grew devil horns. PC Gamer

• Roblox’s Bruno Mars Steal a Brainrot performance drew 12.8 million concurrent users, a single artist record, and issued 5.4 million Brainrot collectables. GamesIndustry.biz

• Valve released a Steam client update with gamepad fixes and fancier beta UI ahead of Steam Machine preparations for early 2026. PC Gamer

• Level-5 released a trailer for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Ares & Fabled Seed DLC ahead of its January 28 launch on all platforms. RPG Site

• Wandering Sword full soundtrack vinyl release with all 47 base game and DLC tracks, plus a producer insert, is available for pre-order. RPG Site

Biggest releases of the week?

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts every week :)

This edition will cover the week from 12 January to 18 January.

What caught my attention?

Lots of Lego sets: Zelda, Pokémon. Maybe it’s time for me to be an adult and indulge?

Oh, and yes, AI discourse.

TLDR

• Hero shooter Highguard did not pay for its Game Awards slot, as showrunners selected it for the spotlight. PC Gamer

• Former Assassin’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis Côté sues Ubisoft for nearly $1 million, alleging constructive dismissal after leaving 7 months after Assassin’s Creed Shadows release. PC Gamer

• This week’s Japanese game releases include Arknights: Endfield for PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android, and Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for Xbox Series and Switch 2. Gematsu

• Rockstar provided a terminally ill fan early access to GTA 6 ahead of its November release date. Eurogamer

• Nioh 3 features open exploration and intense yokai clashes. GamesRadar

• The Last of Us director Bruce Straley used Ellie and Joel’s bond as a reference for his new game, with Ico as the biggest inspiration. GamesRadar

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Character Pass Season 2 DLC character Ilsa launches on February 10. Gematsu

• Goblin Sushi is a cooking sim about a goblin who cooks sushi for other sushi-loving goblins. PC Gamer

• Minecraft-like Hytale received a huge dinosaur update a few days after release. PC Gamer

• Armed robbers stole $100,000 worth of Pokémon merchandise from a New York City Pokémon store on January 14. PC Gamer

• Diablo-like No Rest for the Wicked sold a million copies in early access, with co-op arriving next week. PC Gamer

• Valve amended its AI disclosure policy to require informing players if generative AI is used in games, while AI tools for efficiency are not the focus. Eurogamer

• Chrono Trigger Original Soundtrack Vinyl LP Box set with 64 tracks announced for March release in Japan and April in the West. RPG Site

• Sega confirmed another retro arcade game for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, releasing on Switch 2 next month. Nintendo Life

• Disney’s 2008 DS game Cory in the House is selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay after a viral Metacritic campaign. Nintendo Life

• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Daima Adventure Through the Demon Realm Pack Part 2 DLC is now available. RPG Site

• Dark Deity 1 & 2 for Nintendo Switch and Dark Deity 2 for PS5 launch physically on January 22 through Super Rare Games. RPG Site

• Hypergryph released the release trailer and New Horizons gameplay trailer for Arknights: Endfield ahead of its January 22 launch, with pre-registrations topping 35 million. RPG Site

• Lego announced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time The Final Battle set with 1,003 pieces featuring Link, Zelda, and Ganon, releasing March 1, 2026 for $129.99. Siliconera

• Sega will release a demo for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, the updated remake of the third game with a new Yoshitaka Mine storyline. Siliconera

• Meta shut down Armature Studio, founded in 2008 by former Retro Studios developers Mark Pacini, Todd Keller, and Jack Mathews who worked on ports including Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for PS Vita. Nintendo Life

• HoYoverse teased new Honkai: Star Rail Planarcadia characters including Sparxie, Yao Guang, two Stellaron Hunters, and others involving Aeon Aha, Elation path, Masked Fools, and Genius Society after the 4.0 update. Siliconera

• The Division series senior producer Julian Gerighty left Ubisoft to join Battlefield Studios. Eurogamer

• Bandai Namco announced Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown surpassed 7 million copies sold. Nintendo Life

• Italian Competition Authority AGCM launched an investigation into Activision Blizzard over monetisation in Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. GamesIndustry.biz

• Takara Tomy will re-release the life-sized fat Pikachu plush from 1997 for Pokémon’s 30th anniversary in 2026, matching Pikachu’s 0.4m height from 1996 Game Boy games. Siliconera

• Valve stated Steam Machine will have fewer constraints than Steam Deck for game verification. GamesIndustry.biz

• Dragon Quest 7 producer Takeshi Ichikawa stated the remake is developed as the ‘Masterpiece’ version by adjusting the original’s structure. Eurogamer

• Krafton has 26 games in the pipeline as it seeks a big franchise IP. GamesIndustry.biz

• Bandai Namco released a Code Vein II character trailer introducing Zenon Gryfgote. Gematsu

• Ubisoft stated Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag music reuploads were due to technical issues. Eurogamer

• EA unveiled The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy Expansion Pack launching February 12 on all platforms, featuring familial dynasties. Eurogamer

• Saudi PIF is moving $12bn of games firm shares to subsidiary Savvy Games Group. GamesIndustry.biz

• GOG managing director Maciej Golembiewski warned developers might release fewer games if forced to keep them online forever. GamesIndustry.biz

• Amazon Games announced New World MMORPG, released in 2021, will shut down on January 31, 2027. Eurogamer

• RPG Site previewed Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, covering new and old content ten years after the original Yakuza Kiwami. RPG Site

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 received eight nominations across nine categories for the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards 2026, the most of any game. GamesIndustry.biz

• Scopely’s Monopoly Go reached $6 billion revenue, the fastest for any mobile game in history. GamesIndustry.biz

• Sony removed hundreds of ThiGames titles from PlayStation Store. GamesIndustry.biz

• Krafton is evaluating the application of its game tech to physical AI and robotics as long-term exploratory opportunities. Game Developer

Biggest releases of the week?

This edition will cover the week from 5 January to 11 January.

What caught my attention?

Fire Emblem Sacred Stones (GBA) and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance (GC) have been released on the NSO (Nintendo Switch Online). I therefore assume my top 3 for the year are already done?

• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (Switch 2)

• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

• Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones

Jokes aside, if you haven’t tried them yet, it’s a great opportunity to do so! Both games are fantastic in their own right. I have a special fondness for Sacred Stones because it was released on my all-time favorite console, the GBA, which hosts many of my top titles. Intelligent Systems was at its peak then, with titles like Fire Emblem 6/7/8 and Advance Wars. We also enjoyed Golden Sun, tons of other excellent JRPGs, and classic platformers such as Mario Advance and Sonic Advance series. Anyway, I’m an old man fondly recalling the good old days :)

Aside from that, I am keeping an eye on:

• Persona 6’s potential reveal (a man can dream)

• The discourse around AI is becoming increasingly… intense on both sides.

TLDR

• GamesRadar published an article stating Dispatch broke the author out of their gaming slump when nothing else could. GamesRadar

• Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 raised $2.44 million (£1.8m) for Prevent Cancer Foundation and closed with a 70-player relay in Super Mario 64 Replay. Eurogamer

• Polygon published an article explaining how Final Fantasy Tactics’ ending redefines its opening cutscene, containing spoilers for Delita. Polygon

• Former Assassin’s Creed director Alexandre Amancio stated the future of game design lies in smaller teams and that big-budget developers cannot solve problems by throwing people at it. Eurogamer

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developers stated they basically did twice the work of a more experienced team, with younger staff having no expectations about studio operations. GamesRadar

• Larian lead stated the writing process for Divinity encourages chaos and breaks situations in every conceivable way as Baldur’s Gate 3 devs move onto Divinity. GamesRadar

• Larian stated Divinity’s character customisation will feature more colors, more options, and more control than Baldur’s Gate 3’s. PC Gamer

• GameStop reportedly shut hundreds of US stores as CEO strives for $35bn pay packet. Eurogamer

• Polygon published an article stating Animal Crossing defined cozy gaming yet cruelty made the original special, with Tom Nook and neighbors insulting the player at the start. Polygon

• Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s protagonist melds a young, rough-edged Musashi as a historical figure with a cinematic legend. GamesRadar

• Polygon listed 5 weird PS5 colors Sony could make next following announcement of bold new Hyperpop faceplates after five years. Polygon

• The Witcher 3’s former lead quest designer stated romance is in upcoming vampire RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker, allowing players to build relationships with characters. PC Gamer

• RPG Site published a guide on unlocking all six Trial Maps in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, part of its challenging Trial Mode. RPG Site

• One of Steam’s first hits of 2026 is an adorable co-op adventure game about exploring wastelands on the back of a giant crab. GamesRadar

• GameSpot listed most anticipated games of 2026 from GTA 6 to 007: First Light. GameSpot

• Former Little Nightmares devs’ End of Abyss from Section 9 Interactive blends top-down twin-stick shooter and Metroidvania exploration. GamesRadar

• Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi considered how much to include from spin-offs as devs did not just want to make a remake. GamesRadar

• Divinity lead stated Larian is taking notes on all UI mods for Baldur’s Gate 3, with more improvements in mind that could not fit into releases. GamesRadar

• Valorant’s latest update adds a new pistol for early rounds as Riot plans a holistic look at the arsenal through 2026 to emphasize gunplay. PC Gamer

• Returnal spiritual sequel Saros lets players keep upgrades when looping. GamesRadar

• Deadlock dev teased the community over favorite hero Fathom that was briefly tested and removed, stating they made delicious stock out of his bones and meats. PC Gamer

• Baldur’s Gate 3 boss stated lack of Switch 2 version was not their decision, suggesting it is up to Wizards of the Coast. VGC

• Nintendo Life reviewed Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance on GameCube as aged and easier than expected but still a winner, noting Japanese Maniac difficulty mode. Nintendo Life

• Publisher GREE and developer ASOBIMO announced Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Chronicle of Echoes for iOS and Android. Gematsu

• Pokémon developer Game Freak will reveal more about Beast of Reincarnation at Xbox Developer Direct showcase on 22nd January 2026. Nintendo Life

• Counter-Strike 2 confirmed Anubis returns to Premier Season Four map pool after six-month absence, with Season Three ending January 19th. Esports Insider

• Baldur’s Gate 3 composer Borislav ‘Bobby’ Slavov is returning for Divinity, as confirmed twice during Larian’s Reddit AMA by Swen Vincke. PC Gamer

• Valve spent 2025 ripping apart Deadlock and putting it back together, delivering better live service than most live service games. PC Gamer

• Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai stated working on massive games with hundreds of devs can be frustrating, with work that shows results and work that does not. GamesRadar

• Masahiro Sakurai stated he does not think he is a hit maker despite creating Kirby and Super Smash Bros, and is envious of other devs’ creations. GamesRadar

• GameStop shuttered an estimated 400 stores in 2026, with around 295 already closed or winding down by Thursday and nearly 400 by Friday. Polygon

• Larian stated they would have loved Baldur’s Gate 3 on Switch 2 but it was not their decision, and will certainly consider Divinity for it. Nintendo Life

• Cygames established Cygames AI Studio subsidiary on January 9, 2026, to develop and provide generative AI-based tools and services. Siliconera

• Nex Playground announced an NBA game coming in 2026 along with more sports games and online gameplay. Polygon

• Over half of The Sims development team is working on The Sims 4 and the next evolution. PC Gamer

• Capcom shared a trailer for Alex in Street Fighter 6 ahead of his early Spring 2026 debut as part of Year 3 Character Pass DLC. Siliconera

• Roblox began global rollout of facial age verification on January 9, 2026, following partial rollout in December to improve child safety. Eurogamer

• Reports indicated Discord confidentially filed for IPO, a move towards going public. Eurogamer

• Square Enix announced NieR: Automata 9th Anniversary Stream on February 20, 2026, at 7:30 PM JST featuring Yosuke Saito, Yoko Taro, Keiichi Okabe, and Takahisa Taura. Siliconera

• Polygon stated Dungeons & Dragons is primed for major reinvention in 2026 after 50th anniversary, 5th edition update, and staffing turnover. Polygon

Biggest releases of the week?

Have a nice day/week!

I hope you had a wonderful break filled with good food, warmth, and happiness.

As mentioned before the holidays, I will be making some changes to the newsletter format. It will now focus on providing a TLDR along with the latest releases. Rest assured, I will still include links so you can easily access the news that interests you directly.

What caught my attention?

The Ubisoft hack was notable. I feel bad for my ex-colleagues. See below:

Hackers distributed millions of credits to Rainbow Six Siege players before Ubisoft pulled servers and rolled back transactions. [Polygon]

TLDR

• Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund confirmed that Arc Raiders uses an aggression-based matchmaking system. [PCGamesN]

• Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza Kiwami 3 remake promises to appeal to newcomers and veterans alike. [VGC - Features]

• HoYoVerse teased Sparxie and Yao Guang as two five-star characters for Honkai: Star Rail version 4.0, arriving on February 14, 2026. [Siliconera]

• The Pokémon Company shared an animated logo to kick off 30th anniversary celebrations on February 27, 2026. [Nintendo Life]

• The first Persona 30th anniversary announcement is Fitness Boxing Persona 5. [Push Square]

• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book features hidden depth despite its familiar appearance. [VGC - Features]

• Blue Prince is described as more than a brilliant puzzler. [Eurogamer]

• The MongolZ signed Anarbileg ‘cobrazera’ Uuganbayar to complete its Counter-Strike 2 roster for 2026, replacing Azbayar ‘Senzu’ Munkhbold. [Esports Insider]

• PlayerUnknown Productions announced Prologue, a survival game with machine learning-generated maps. [PCGamesN]

• Polygon listed 20 most anticipated anime of 2026 including Steel Ball Run and Hana-Kimi. [Polygon]

• Arc Raiders was Steam’s best-selling game over the holiday period. [Eurogamer]

• Nintendo announced Devon Pritchard as the next NOA president succeeding Doug Bowser. [Nintendo Life]

• Stardew Valley Nintendo Switch 2 Edition received an update and European release is on the way after US launch on Christmas Day. [Nintendo Life]

• ATLUS launched the Persona series 30th anniversary website. [Gematsu]

• Pokémon Pokopia aims to merge Pokémon with Animal Crossing elements. [VGC - Features]

• Phantom Blade Zero amassed over 1 million wishlists in two weeks after confirming September 2026 release date. [Eurogamer]

• Rhythm Heaven Groove faces potential input lag issues on TV after 15 years. [VGC - Features]

• ESL increased Club Rewards for IEM China 2026 to $250,000 by reallocating from IEM Major Cologne. [Esports Insider]

• Brenda Romero stated that Romero Games’ canceled Xbox title had no priest and was nothing like Hotline Miami. [PCGamesN]

• Nintendo commented on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s placement in the Metroid timeline. [Nintendo Life]

• GOG co-founder Michal Kicinski acquired the platform from CD Projekt. [Game Developer]

• BioWare’s Anthem servers will shut down on January 12, 2026. [Polygon]

• Polygon examined the history of darts video games. [Polygon]

• Astralis parted ways with Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz and Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif for a new international direction in Counter-Strike 2. [Esports Insider]

• Dispatch features visible penises in gameplay encounters. [Eurogamer]

• Veteran jungler Hung ‘Karsa’ Hao-Hsuan announced retirement from professional League of Legends after 11 years. [Hotspawn]

• Henk Rogers, Founder of The Tetris Company, stated esports got off on the wrong foot. [Esports Insider]

• Housemarque’s Saros includes concessions in its upgrade system compared to Returnal. [VGC - Features]

• Japanese RPG creators shared aspirations including Level-5 focusing on DecaPolice and Rabbit & Bear Studios preparing a new game. [RPG Site]

• Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito teased more for Dragon Quest, NieR, and Final Fantasy in 2026 ahead of Dragon Quest’s 40th anniversary. [Nintendo Life]

• Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You releases on Switch next month for 30th anniversary. [Nintendo Life]

• Overwatch 2 experienced its best year in 2025 with new perks and modes emphasizing player choice. [Polygon]

• Gen.G CEO Arnold Hur discussed League of Legends esports issues in interview with Trayton. [Hotspawn]

• Granblue Fantasy will launch worldwide on PC via Steam on March 10 with English and Japanese support, excluding Japan and existing players. [RPG Site]

• Esports Insider listed 5 things League of Legends could improve in 2025 including matchmaking and autofill. [Esports Insider]

Biggest releases of the week?

None, devs were taking a well-deserved break.