As ever, this week has been a tumultuous and eventful one in the world of gaming, and so it falls to us once again to take a look at the ups, the downs, and everything in between.
Whether it’s rumours of an oft-requested PC port, new Game Pass games, or yet more layoffs (unfortunately), this week brings many things to contemplate and chew over if you’re a gaming fanatic.
Let’s take a look at what’s been happening this week in gaming news!
Red Dead Redemption could finally be heading to PC
For years, it’s felt weird that Rockstar’s open-world Western epic Red Dead Redemption hasn’t been available on PC, but all of that is about to change, at least if a dataminer is to be believed.
Rockstar dataminer Tez2, otherwise known as TezFunz2, recently uncovered a launcher file that contained some pretty telling (and exciting) strings of information.
The text invites players to “journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico in Red Dead Redemption”, as well as its DLC Undead Nightmare, which are “now playable on PC”.
If the text is legit, then Red Dead Redemption could finally be on its way to PC, which…well, it’s been a long time coming.
The next Assassin’s Creed game has been revealed
Ubisoft has finally revealed its latest Assassin’s Creed game, which will be set in Japan. It’s called Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and it will take place during the final years of the 16th century.
The game will let you play as two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, and if you feel like you’ve heard that second name somewhere before, it’s because Yasuke is a real historical figure.
You’ll be able to alternate between both protagonists, and they’ll both have a big role to play in the game’s story, which we’ll probably get more info about as time goes by.
Expect to learn more about Assassin’s Creed Shadows during Ubisoft’s summer showcase.
Helldivers 2 does well for Sony as two new CEOs are appointed
We got more information this week about Sony’s financial state, and third-person shooter Helldivers 2 is continuing to do good work for the PlayStation company.
As revealed in a Sony investor call (and subsequently by Arrowhead, erm, head Johan Pilestedt on X, or Twitter, or whatever), Helldivers 2 has sold more than 12 million units.
It’s now Sony’s fastest-selling game ever, beating out the likes of God of War Ragnarok, which Arrowhead and Sony will no doubt be pleased by.
Two new CEOs have also been appointed at PlayStation: Hermen Hulst, who will head up first-party IP development, and Hideaki Nishino, who will be in charge of hardware and tech.
NieR’s creative team is working on something new
Sometimes, a story breaks in the gaming industry that contains very little information, but given who’s involved, it’s considered worth reporting anyway.
That’s exactly what happened this week when NieR producer Yosuke Saito announced that he’s teaming up once again with director Yoko Taro and composer Keiichi Okabe for a project.
Saito doesn’t say what this project might be, choosing instead to simply say “it might be NieR, it might not be NieR”, which doesn’t say a whole lot at all.
Still, the prospect of more NieR is an exciting one, so let’s hope this game materialises in the not-too-distant future.
The Division Heartland has been cancelled
Around three years ago, Ubisoft announced a free-to-play shooter in its The Division series, titled The Division Heartland. Sadly, we learned this week that it’s been cancelled.
Ubisoft’s recent finances show that the game has been canned in order to reallocate its resources to ongoing projects like free-to-play shooter XDefiant and long-term shooter franchise Rainbow Six.
Honestly, we can’t say we’re particularly saddened by the loss of what sounded like a fairly watered-down version of a franchise that already feels like it’s outstayed its welcome.
All the hard work that Ubisoft’s staff put into The Division Heartland has, however, gone to waste, which is a shame.
Take-Two denies shutting down studios
Recently, Bloomberg compiled some pretty compelling evidence suggesting that Take-Two had closed down two studios responsible for some of the most interesting indie games of recent years, Intercept and Roll7.
This week, though, Take-Two’s Strauss Zelnick told IGN that this actually wasn’t the case, although he declined to say what had actually happened to the studios in question.
The conversation between Zelnick and IGN’s Rebekah Valentine is pretty bizarre, and it’s worth reading IGN’s article in full, because it arguably shows that Take-Two and Zelnick aren’t above a little misdirection.
What’s actually happened to Roll7 and Intercept? We may never know.
It looks like Valve is working on a hero shooter
It’s often difficult to know exactly which leakers and analysts you can trust in the gaming industry, because there’s so much spurious information floating around that pinpointing the truth becomes difficult.
That’s certainly true of Tyler McVicker, whose predictions and leaks Valve itself has warned against trusting without scepticism in the past.
This week, McVicker “revealed” that Valve is supposedly working on a hero shooter named Deadlock, which is intended to compete with the likes of Blizzard’s Overwatch.
It’s worth remembering that often, even if games like this do exist, they might be internal demos or vertical slices intended for developers or testers and not for the general public, so Deadlock might never even materialise. We’ll see.
A Resident Evil remake could be in production
Given its recent spate of remakes and reimaginings, it would make perfect sense for Capcom to remake the original Resident Evil, right?
Well, according to a new report by Resident Evil fan account BioDeclassified (which, admittedly, points to an anonymous email as its source), that could well be what’s happening at Capcom Towers.
Supposedly, the remake is slated for a 2026 release and will feature unique models for every single zombie in the game, which feels like an impressive feat if it’s true.
Take this with an even bigger mound of salt than usual, but honestly, a Resident Evil remake would make sense.
