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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Pigeon Simulator, and Egging On Headline November’s Xbox Game Pass Games

Coming soon to Xbox Game Pass includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Pigeon Simulator, and Sniper Elite: Resistance.

Xbox has announced the first batch of games coming to Xbox Game Pass for the month of November 2025, with the big ticket of the month being Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which is only available to PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, but will still undoubtedly make the biggest splash. Surrounding Call of Duty is a slew of indie games, almost like Xbox didn't want to go out and grab anything too major for November for fear of overshadowing its golden goose. That's just some joking speculation, of course, it would be difficult for any game, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-7-pigeon-simulator-egging-on-headline-xbox-game-pass-november-2025/

A Majority of Game Developers Believe Steam Has A Monopoly on PC Game Distribution

Steam logo on a collage of video game covers including Gears 5, Cyberpunk, and Stardew Valley.

A new whitepaper published by Rokky, a platform for PC game distribution, reveals that in a survey conducted by Atomik Research, which asked 306 executives at game studios, 67% of them from the US, with the remaining 33% from the UK, 72% of respondents believe that Steam has a monopoly on PC game distribution. But just because these respondents believe that Steam is a monopoly, is it actually a monopoly? As Circana senior executive, Mat Piscatella, and Rokky in its paper titled, "The State of PC Game Distribution" point out, not exactly, but there is an argument to be made. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/a-majority-of-game-developers-believe-steam-has-monopoly-on-pc-game-distribution/

Aloft Preview – Bloom & Blight Overhauls Plenty, Still No Sign Of v1.0

Aloft Bloom & Blight features two characters standing by a mystical tree.

Aloft is a cozy-looking cooperative sandbox survival game from developer Astrolabe Interactive and publisher Funcom that’s been out in early access since January 15, 2025. While its v1.0 release isn’t on deck (at least based on what Astrolabe told me), the studio is getting ready to deliver a significant update with its Bloom & Blight expansion. Ahead of Bloom & Blight’s release today, I got the chance to check out a short presentation from Astrolabe going over everything that’s new in this update and to see just how much of the game is being overhauled and revamped. Seemingly, it’s a […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/aloft-preview-bloom-and-blight-update/

Players Spent 2x More On Remakes Than Remasters In The Last Two Years

A knight stands in front of a fiery shield in a burning landscape.

According to research from analytics firm Ampere Analysis (per VGC), over the last two years, players spent twice as much on remakes of video games compared to remasters. It's no secret that players are, for the most part, fond of a good remake and remaster. In the last two years (2024-2025), according to Ampere, across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation, 72.4 million players spent approximately $1.4 billion on remakes and remasters and microtransactions related to them. Between January 2024 and September 2025, a period during which 15 remakes were released and 27 remasters, on average, players spent 2.2x more on remakes. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/players-spent-more-on-remakes-than-remasters-in-last-two-years-ampere-analysis/

EA Claims It Will “Maintain Creative Control” If Its $55 Billion Buyout by Saudi Arabia PIF and Silver Lake Goes Through

Electronic Arts logo on a colorful background.

In the final week of September, a report from The Wall Street Journal claimed that Electronic Arts (EA) was going private in a massive $50 billion buyout, with the major investors being Silver Lake, a private equity company run by Jared Kushner, and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), among others. A few days later, the news would be confirmed, with EA officially announcing it had agreed to be acquired by this 'Consortium' of investors for $55 billion, and the video game industry has had endless questions ever since. Questions about the $20 billion of debt that EA takes […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/ea-claims-it-will-maintain-creative-control-if-55-billion-buyout-goes-through-saudi-arabia-silver-lake/

Cyberpunk Series Creator Wants Keanu Reeves to Give Him a Call if the Star Wants to Return as Johnny Silverhand

Character with cybernetic arm indoors, wearing dog tags, with text #WHO.FUT in background.

It will be years before we are close to even the release date for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion, but that hasn't stopped people from asking CD Projekt RED and anyone connected to the series about it. We know the game is in pre-production, and that it'll feature a kind of "Chicago gone wrong" setting, and as of September, we know that Hollywood star Keanu Reeves would "absolutely" love to find a way back to the series to reprise his role as Johnny Silverhand. Well, according to series creator Mike Pondsmith in a recent anniversary live stream that […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/cyberpunk-2077-series-creator-keanu-reeves-return-johnny-silverhand/

Naoki Hamaguchi “Would Love” To Make a Game With the Scope of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Characters standing before a large glowing arch with the number 33 above it.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's game director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has been clear about a few things in 2025: that development on Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 is "coming along really well," and that Clair Obsucr: Expedition 33 is an excellent game. It's his pick for Game of the Year, and in an interview with GamesRadar, he's gone a step further to say that he "would love" to make a game at the scope and scale of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The comment came up when Hamaguchi was discussing how with triple-A development, there's so much that goes into a game […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/naoki-hamaguchi-would-love-to-make-a-game-with-clair-obscur-expedition-33-scope/

Golden Joysticks Ultimate Game of the Year 2025 Nominees Stacked With Major Indie Titles

Hollow Knight: Silksong video game title screen features a character in a dynamic pose.

At the beginning of last month, GamesRadar revealed the nominees for its 2025 Golden Joysticks Awards, though one category, the Ultimate Game of the Year Award, was left out of the list. As of today, the shortlist for the most significant Golden Joysticks Award has been revealed, and it is stacked with games from independent developers making up most of the list, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Blue Prince, and Peak. It's the first major awards event to reveal a Game of the Year list, and while it has 12 games listed in total, which is more than you'd see […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/golden-joysticks-awards-2025-ultimate-game-of-the-year-award-major-indies-stacked/

Catching Wicked: For Good in Theatres? You’ll Also Reportedly See the Next Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer

Nintendo and Illumination present The Super Mario Galaxy Movie title on a starry galaxy background.

Wicked: For Good, the highly anticipated part two of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, is arriving in theatres on November 21, 2025, and there is reportedly a very good Mario-themed reason to go see it. According to X (formerly Twitter) user My Time to Shine, which has a reputation for publishing scoops within the movie world, the first proper trailer for the Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be shown at screenings of Wicked: For Good. "The Mario Galaxy trailer will be attached to Wicked For Good meaning it will release online before November 21st," My Time to […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/super-mario-galaxy-movie-trailer-reportedly-appear-before-wicked-for-good/

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 This Week

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment game cover art with characters in an action scene.

Four years after the last Hyrule Warriors release, Omega Force, the studio behind Age of Calamity within Koei Tecmo, is set to release Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 later this week on November 6, 2025. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment sets players in the Imprisoning War, the events of which would lead to the story that unfolds in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Princess Zelda fights alongside King Rauru and the legendary Sages, each with unique fighting styles that players can utilize in this musou-style game. The latest trailer showcases a bit […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/hyrule-warriors-age-of-imprisonment-release-date-nintendo-switch-2/

DHS Will Continue Co-Opting Gaming and Movie Imagery Like Halo and Lord of the Rings For Its Social Media Posts

Game character in green armor with 117 on chest stands in a sci-fi landscape with rings and structures in the distance.

Following the reveal of Halo: Campaign Evolved, which confirmed that the longtime Xbox-exclusive series would be coming to PlayStation, GameStop posted a lengthy statement about it being the end of the console wars. The White House, of all entities, responded with an AI-generated photo of Donald Trump in Spartan armor, as if to depict him as the protagonist in Halo, Master Chief. Shortly after that, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used more Halo imagery to promote its own political agenda, and has even followed it up with a similar post co-opting Lord of the Rings. And the DHS […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/dhs-will-continue-co-opting-gaming-halo-movie-lord-of-the-rings-imagery-social-media/

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