Vishal Kamal has been covering video games for 7 years, writing about everything from hardware deals and new releases to esports and the business
side of the industry. He runs TheBadGamer, focused on gaming news worth your time.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launched on August 6 with a PC version so broken that fighting game veteran Maximilian Dood uninstalled it live on stream after two days. The Steam rating has plummeted to 39% positive in English reviews, while the PS5 version runs without issues.
Warner Bros. sparked widespread outrage by using an AI-generated dog podcast to promote The End of Oak Street, a sci-fi film starring Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway. Viewers across social media have called the marketing tactic cheap and embarrassing, with many pledging to boycott the August 14 release.
Withering State puts players in the shoes of Alexander Sants, the Sudlivian Premier thrust into a caretaker leadership role after the General Secretary's unexpected death. The preview covers Chapters II and III of this narrative-driven political simulation from solo developer Ed V., a lawyer and political scholar who has built a fictional nation with remarkable depth. Early impressions suggest a game where every choice carries weight and the path forward is never clear.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swung to a massive $145 million second weekend domestically, pushing its global total to $1.67 billion and closing in on the $2 billion milestone. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey surpassed The Dark Knight Rises to become his highest-grossing film ever with $1.104 billion worldwide.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says rising console prices fueled by AI hardware demand won't slow Grand Theft Auto 6's November 19 launch. The executive believes the install base will meet original expectations despite PS5 and Xbox Series X/S price increases.
Game of Thrones: The Mad King opens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as a bold theatrical achievement that answers long-standing lore questions about Aerys II's reign and the tourney at Harrenhal. The stage play, directed by Dominic Cooke and written by Duncan Macmillan, functions as a masterpiece of Shakespearean theater when judged on its own merits. After years of disappointment from the HBO series' ending, this prequel offers genuine healing for longtime fans.
ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs blends meditative disassembly gameplay with an early-aughts Tokyo aesthetic and officially licensed Atari hardware. The narrative shop sim from Mandragora and tinyBuild is out now on PC.
Roblox Corporation saw its share price collapse by 70% following Q2 earnings that revealed a steady decline in daily active users from a peak of 152 million to 123 million. CFO Naveen Chopra attributed the shortfall to fewer viral hits and algorithm changes prioritising retention over monetisation, while also flagging heavy AI investment as a contributing factor to the weak results.
Five Nights at Freddy's is getting a real-world Freddy Fazbear's Pizza at New Jersey's American Dream mall, complete with animatronic stage shows, Foxy's Pirate Cove, and multiplayer survival-horror experiences. The permanent immersive restaurant experience, developed in collaboration with creator Scott Cawthon, targets a 2027 grand opening.
THQ Nordic has revealed it currently has 12 unannounced games in development across its internal studios and publishing partners. The publisher made the disclosure through its official Steam news channel, signaling a substantial pipeline of projects beyond its publicly known slate. This volume of undisclosed titles suggests an aggressive growth strategy for the Embracer Group subsidiary.
