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The Rumours Were True: Nintendo Confirms a Partner Showcase Nintendo Direct for Tomorrow

The image shows a logo for 'Nintendo Direct' with text below reading 'Partner Showcase 2.5.2026'.

After rumours appeared last week pointing to a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase happening this week, specifically on Thursday, February 5, 2026, we now know those rumours and reports were correct. Confirmed first through the Nintendo Today! mobile app, Nintendo will host a Partner Showcase Direct event tomorrow, February 5, at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BT. This will be the third Nintendo Direct event of 2026 so far, after the Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct and a Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Direct last month. It's also the first Partner Showcase event Nintendo has hosted since July 2025. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/the-rumours-were-true-nintendo-confirms-a-parnter-showcase-nintendo-direct-for-tomorrow/

AMD’s Semi-Custom SoC That’ll Power the Next-Gen Xbox is “Progressing Well to Support a Launch in 2027,” Says AMD CEO

An Xbox logo is displayed prominently above a stylized cityscape with green and blue light beams in the background.

The next-gen Xbox console from Microsoft, which we know will be powered by a semi-custom SoC currently in development from AMD, is "progressing well to support a launch in 2027," said AMD's chief executive officer, Dr. Lisa Siu, during the company's 2025 fourth quarter earnings call. "For 2026, we expect semi-custom SoC annual revenue to decline by a significant double-digit percentage as we enter the seventh year of what has been a very strong console cycle," Dr. Siu said on the call. "From a product standpoint, Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/amds-semi-custom-soc-thatll-power-the-next-gen-xbox-is-progressing-well-to-support-a-launch-in-2027-says-amd-ceo/

More Grand Theft Auto VI “Marketing Beats” Coming in Summer 2026, While GTA V Has Sold Over 225M Copies

A scene from the game 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III' shows two characters by an open trunk under a clear sky with palm

Take-Two Interactive's third-quarter financial results have been published, which means there's plenty of information to glean from the company behind 2K and Rockstar's latest numbers. What everyone wants to hear about, though, is Grand Theft Auto VI, which may just be the most anticipated video game ever, and in the meantime, GTA V has hit yet another astronomical sales milestone. While Take-Two's chief executive officer, Strauss Zelnick, didn't get too deep into what's coming for GTA VI, he did confirm in an interview with The Game Business and during the call with investors that we can expect more "marketing beats" […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/more-grand-theft-auto-vi-marketing-beats-coming-in-summer-2026-while-gta-v-has-sold-over-225m-copies/

“To Be a Great Electronic Artist, You Need the Best Technology and Tools”: EA Digs Further Into its Deal With Stability AI

The image features the logos of Electronic Arts and stability.ai against a vibrant abstract background with fluid shapes and

EA's announcement that it would be going private in a buyout led by the Saudi Arabia PIF and Silver Lake wasn't the only major deal the company made in 2025. It also struck a deal with Stability AI, a generative AI firm that "is unlocking the power of open-source generative AI to expand human creativity," according to its website. At the time of the deal, Stability AI chief executive officer, Prem Akkaraju, said, "EA is a pioneer in interactive entertainment and understands that innovation begins with the creator. At Stability AI, we put creators at the center and build around […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/to-be-a-great-electronic-artist-you-need-the-best-technology-and-tools-ea-digs-further-into-its-deal-with-stability-ai/

ARC Raiders’ Dominance Continues, Reportedly Stands as Top-Selling Game Across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation for Third Consecutive Month

Two characters in a battle against a large robotic creature in a dusty urban setting from the game Immortals of Aveum.

The meteoric rise and sustained success of Embark Studio's new third-person extraction shooter, ARC Raiders, will be one for the history books of the video game industry if things keep going the way they are currently going. A new report from Alinea Analytics claims that for the third consecutive month, ARC Raiders was the number one selling title across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. That month was, of course, January 2026, during which Alinea Analytics says ARC Raiders sold an additional 1.5 million copies just on Steam. On PlayStation and Xbox, it combined for an additional 1.7 million copies sold, bringing […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/arc-raiders-dominance-continues-reportedly-stands-as-top-selling-game-across-steam-xbox-and-playstation-for-third-consecutive-month/

Google’s Project Genie Shows “Meaningful Progress in Content Generation,” But it “Can’t Replace Creative Vision,” Says Analyst

The image shows a black background with a grid pattern and the text 'Project Genie' above 'Interactive worlds. Generated in

Last week, Google debuted its latest generative AI experiment, Project Genie. It's a tool capable of generating interactive three-dimensional environments made entirely through generative AI that you can explore for one solid minute. All you need to do (after paying the $250 monthly fee for Google's AI Ultra subscription) is write a prompt to start generating your own game-like worlds, but besides the paywall barrier, there are more than a few limitations to this technology in terms of it becoming the new way to make games. The fact that it runs at a slide-show speed of 24 frames per second, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/googles-project-genie-shows-meaningful-progress-in-content-generation-but-it-cant-replace-creative-vision-says-analyst/

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, High on Life 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance Headline New Xbox Game Pass Games

A graphic displays upcoming titles for Xbox Game Pass, including Pirate Yakuza: In Hawaii, Madden 26, Get Amped

Xbox has announced the first batch of Xbox Game Pass games joining the service for February 2026, headlined by a couple of major past releases and one new day-one launch for the subscription service. That new release is Squanch Games' upcoming High on Life 2, while the other headlining titles include Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This new batch of games also includes a couple of titles already included in the service for players subscribed to the Game Pass Ultimate tier that are now available for Premium tier members. Once again, unfortunately for Essential tier players, there's […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-high-on-life-2-and-kingdom-come-deliverance-headline-new-xbox-game-pass-games/

“That Sucks. What Are We Learning?”: New Report Reveals How Obsidian Looks to Bounce-Back After Two Commercial Misses in 2025

A collage of characters from Obsidian Entertainment games with the 'Obsidian entertainment' logo in the center.

Obsidian Entertainment was one of the busiest studios in 2025, releasing not just one, but three major titles last year. It began the year with Avowed in February 2025, followed by Grounded 2 releasing in early access in July 2025, and capped off the year with The Outer Worlds 2 in October 2025. Two of those three games were misfires in terms of sales (though they were fairly well received by critics, especially here on Wccftech), and a new report from Bloomberg digs into how the studio is looking to bounce back and "reinvent itself." If you can't guess which […]

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Epic Games Store Saw Record-Setting Third-Party Sales Growth in 2025, Reaches 317M+ PC Users

The image features '2025 Year in Review' with the Epic Games Store logo at the bottom right on a purple abstract background.

The Epic Games Store won't be toppling Steam anytime soon, but the numbers shared by Epic in its Epic Games Store 2025 Year in Review blog post clearly show that the digital storefront is growing. The digital storefront best known for giving away free games also saw quite a few players doing more than just claiming a free title each week, spending more time and money in third-party titles. 2025 was a year of record-setting for the EGS, as player spending on third-party games grew by 57% compared to last year, reaching a record-high $400 million. Epic also added that […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/epic-games-store-saw-record-setting-third-party-sales-growth-in-2025-reaches-317m-pc-users/

The Best Skills in ARC Raiders – Level Up These Skills First

Three characters in a sci-fi setting hold weapons, with one character prominently gripping a futuristic rifle from the video game ARC Raiders.

ARC Raiders has a lot of systems that its players need to be aware of, and while the gear you take with you each time you go Topside is important, you also need to be levelling up your Raider's skill tree appropriately, if you want to be able to make the best of your runs. While completing the full Skill Tree is a slog, since you don't just have to unlock skills by spending individual points, you need to spend a certain amount of skill points in each of the three sections (Conditioning, Mobility, and Survival) to move into the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/how-to/the-best-skills-in-arc-raiders/

Ubisoft Montreal Lead Fired After Critical Comments on New Return-to-Office Mandate

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Ubisoft, like most major triple-A publishers and developers, gets its fair share of criticism, and since the company announced a "major reset" last month, it's been getting far more than its fair share. The reset saw it cancel the long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, among other projects, while others were delayed, and the company confirmed that there would not only be more layoffs coming, but it would end its remote work policies, instituting a return-to-office mandate. All of this, including the introduction of a voluntary layoff program at Ubisoft's headquarters in Paris, has sparked heavy criticism from […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/ubisoft-montreal-lead-fired-after-critical-comments-on-new-return-to-office-mandate/

Austrian Supreme Court Declares EA Sport FC’s Loot Boxes and FC Ultimate Mode “Do Not Constitute Gambling”

An image from EA Sports FC 26 shows 'ICONS' cards featuring players like Ibrahimović, Iniesta, Morgan, and Kahn with their

Austria's Supreme Court has just delivered a ruling that has the potential to send shockwaves through the video game industry, as it declares that the loot boxes found in EA Sports FC and in its FC Ultimate Mode "do not constitute gambling," a ruling that EA is only too happy to accept. Reported by GamesMarkt, while the ruling states that the lootboxes in EA Sports FC are not gambling, it still adds that gambling is part of the equation. "In this video game, despite the random allocation of individual content from the Packs, the human player can use their own […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/austrian-supreme-court-declares-ea-sport-fcs-loot-boxes-and-fc-ultimate-mode-do-not-constitute-gambling/

“Evil Has Always Had a Name”: Capcom’s New Short Film Sets the Mood for Resident Evil Requiem

A child sleeps in bed holding a stuffed animal, while an adult sits beside them with a book.

It's officially February, which means that we're finally within the release month for Resident Evil Requiem. The new mainline entry in the long-running horror franchise looks like it could be one of the series' best, if it's able to strike the right balance between its RE2 and RE7-inspired sections featuring Grace Ashcroft and its RE4-inspired sections with the iconic Leon Kennedy. Resident Evil Requiem will be arriving on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on February 27, 2026, and ahead of that release date, developer Capcom has shared a new short film to get players in the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/evil-has-always-had-a-name-capcoms-new-short-film-sets-the-mood-for-resident-evil-requiem/

HBO’s The Last of Us May Wrap Up in Three Seasons, Not Four: “It Certainly Seems That Way,” Says HBO Boss

Two people with backpacks stand in a post-apocalyptic cityscape with overgrown skyscrapers.

Ahead of HBO's The Last of Us season two premiering last year, all signs were pointing to the show telling the story of both games over the course of four seasons. We were getting hints towards four seasons in 2024, and while showrunner Craig Mazin has made it clear that he wouldn't be adding to the story beyond what's in the games, he definitively said in an interview with Collider last year that "there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season." Well, it seems like a lot has changed since that May 2025 interview, besides the fact […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/hbos-the-last-of-us-may-wrap-up-in-three-seasons-not-four-it-certainly-seems-that-way-says-hbo-boss/

UK Video Game Retailer GAME to Close its Last Three Standalone Stores

The entrance of a GAME store in a mall features prominent displays for 'Pokémon Arceus' and 'Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty,' with

Players in the United States have GameStop, players in Canada have EB Games, and players in the UK have GAME as their major gaming-dedicated retailers. Or at least, UK players did have GAME, as the retailer is set to close its last three remaining standalone GAME stores after it made creditors aware it would be entering administration, the UK phrase for declaring bankruptcy. After Bloomberg reported that GAME had entered administration, a report from The Game Business (via VGC) a few days later identified that the last three standalone GAME stores in the UK would be closed, as the company […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/uk-video-game-retailer-game-to-close-its-last-three-standalone-stores/

“What Call of Duty Used to Be Like”: New WWII Shooter The Defiant is Giving FPS Fans OG COD and Medal of Honor Vibes

A scene from the game The Defiant shows a warrior with a red flag facing a stormy coast, with the game's title 'THE DEFIANT'

Before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare forever changed the first-person shooter landscape and the Call of Duty franchise, the world of FPS games was dominated by classic World War I and World War II-era shooters. Of course, we still get historic shooters, but it's developer Hoothanes and publisher 4Divinity's upcoming WWII-era shooter, The Defiant, that has FPS feeling those OG COD and even Medal of Honor vibes. The Defiant is an upcoming single-player first-person shooter set during WWII, but not from an angle we've commonly seen before. You'll play as Chinese soldiers fighting in China's War of Resistance against […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/what-call-of-duty-used-to-be-like-new-wwii-shooter-the-defiant-is-giving-fps-fans-og-cod-and-medal-of-honor-vibes/

Helldivers 2 Has Reportedly Sold Over 20M Copies, Most of Them on Steam

A scene from the game 'Starfield' shows characters in futuristic armor on a desert planet with alien creatures and rock

If PlayStation needed another sign that its current push to put its first-party made and published games on both PC and PS5 was a good idea, it certainly has it with the latest report from Alinea Analytics, which claims that the popular third-person shooter Helldivers 2 has sold over 20 million copies, most of them coming from PC players on Steam. When Helldivers 2 launched, despite its connectivity issues that hindered the experience and the controversy regarding PC players initially being mandated to connect their PlayStation Network accounts to their Steam accounts to play the game, it was immediately the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/helldivers-2-has-reportedly-sold-over-20m-copies-most-of-them-on-steam/

Amazon Adds to God of War TV Cast with Alastair Duncan Returning as Mimir and Two New Picks for Brok and Sindri

A collage of five different characters and faces, combining realistic and fantasy elements with two human portraits and

Amazon's upcoming God of War TV series is certainly ramping up, as we've just had another three casting announcements after two new cast members were announced just yesterday. A report from Variety confirms previous rumours that Alastair Duncan will reprise his role as Mimir, while Danny Woodburn (Seinfeld, 90210) and Jeff Gulka (The X Files, Once Upon a Time) will play the dwarf brothers Brok and Sindri, respectively. Duncan, Woodburn, and Gulka are the sixth, seventh, and eighth additions to the cast that we've heard about, after Ryan Hurst was cast as Kratos, followed by Teresa Palmer getting tapped to […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/amazon-adds-to-god-of-war-tv-cast-with-alastair-duncan-returning-as-mimir-and-two-new-picks-for-brok-and-sindri/

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