[PATREON UNLOCK] Update Patch - October 2026

Update Patch News Roundup (06/10/2026)

Welcome to another Update Patch. I was going to make a joke about Halloween, but frankly, this week wasn’t the time for it. 

Content warning: Sexual assault

Video Essayist Jacob Geller Admits to Sexual Assault

In a statement released to Bluesky, video essayist Jacob Geller admitted to committing sexual assault in university. “I traumatized a brilliant person who trusted me, hurt them in a way I can never undo,” he wrote. “I think about it every day.” The victim remains anonymous.

Allegations that Geller had committed sexual assault first spread on X, when a user wrote that he “got fired from working at wxyc UNC's college radio station (by myself and the rest of my mgmt team) for being under title ix investigation of rape…[he] was subsequently suspended from UNC for a single semester.” While this post was later deleted (and is currently archived on ResetEra), fans found that the University of North Carolina had publicly released the names of students that had violated the school’s sexual assault policy on order of the North Carolina Supreme Court. These records charge Geller with “sexual assault or sexual violence,” with discipline in this case being “definite suspension for one semester.”

Even before Geller confirmed the news, the media organization MinnMax, which Geller has contributed to in the past, came forward to say that Geller would not “be on content moving forward…we're in shock and deeply hurt. Thank you for your patience during this sensitive time.” After the allegations, podcast Cane and Rinse announced it would be deleting all episodes featuring Geller from its archives. Lost in Cult put out a message saying that it would no longer be publishing Geller’s upcoming book You’re Not Overthinking It. Nebula also released a statement saying that Geller’s “ongoing projects have been terminated effective immediately, and his content has been removed from our catalog.”

While Geller addressed the allegations to his nearly 60K Bluesky subscribers, no such posts have been made on his YouTube channel, which boasts 1.5m subscribers, nor on his personal Patreon with 7,621 active members.

Geller’s admission of guilt exists in the shadow of recent news at Cornell University, where an anonymous student has sued seven members of fraternity Chi Phi fraternity for sexually assaulting her in 2024. Rape in the United States and around the world remains a systemic problem, a rarely punished crime, and (for many) a wound they must tend to day after day.

Grasshopper Manufacture Splits from NetEase

Alt text: A scene from the Romeo is a Dead Man launch trailer, depicting Romeo Stargazer wearing heroic armor. His right eye is glowing.

Per Gematsu, Grasshopper Manufacture has split from NetEase Games to become an independent developer. “Having improved our own self-publishing know-how,” reads the studio’s statement, “we now have a broad range of options available to us, and regardless of how our games may be published we remain committed to creating unique titles featuring the “NO GAME NO LIFE” gaming experience expected of Grasshopper Manufacture with our own signature flavor and further enhanced quality.”

NetEase Games acquired Grasshopper Manufacture from GungHo Online Entertainment in 2021, amid a spree of global acquisitions which focused on Japanese studios and talent. The studio’s most recent title is this year’s Romeo is a Dead Man. According to a GameFile piece from 2025, the Chinese company planned “to divest itself of the majority of its overseas teams, leading to the potential closure of more than a dozen game studios, if they [couldn’t] secure new post-NetEase funding.” This included pulling funding from former Yakuza developer Toshihiro Nagoshi’s project Gang of Dragon, leading to the rumored closure of his eponymous Nagoshi Studio.

While I’m glad that Grasshopper Manufacture (led by experienced developer Goichi Suda) has escaped closure for now, the studio isn’t out of the woods yet. Funding for independent games remains scarce, and other studios like Double Fine Productions that have lately bought their independence have laid off staff as part of that process.

Reigns Developer Nerial “Enters Hibernation Mode”

Alt text: A scene from the game Reigns. A card displaying Prince Cedric says, “I’m the next King! I will kill the infidels.” The card is being dragged away with a note reading, “Not so fast.”

Per its Bluesky account, the game studio Nerial has announced that it has “decided together with our partners at Devolver to end development at the studio.” Despite this fact, Nerial insists that “it’s not the end of game dev for us…we need to take a break and reflect on everything that’s happened, before coming back with a new perspective.” Additional posts highlighted each member of the team that is now looking for work.

Nerial was founded in 2013 by François (who goes by the handle @nerial) and Tamara Alliot. Its first big success was Reigns, a kingdom management game that was spun into multiple themed variants focused on other properties like Game of Thrones and The Witcher. (Particularly notable was Reigns: Her Majesty, written by former games journalist Leigh Alexander.) Other Nerial projects include Card Shark, a game about cheating at cards, and The Crush House, a dark satire of reality television.

Dominic Tarason Launches PC Game News Hub Steam Hype

Alt text: The Steam Hype logo, with several PC game logos in the background.

Games writer and influencer Dominic Tarason announced that he has launched a new website, Steam Hype, in collaboration with Hookshot Media. This site (per Tarason) “aims to demystify PC gaming, cut through the 100+ daily releases and spotlight indies as much as AAA.” Tarason runs the site as a staff writer (“at least 95% is me so far”) and works alongside a junior writer “who’s learning the ropes.” Other websites owned by Hookshot Media include Nintendo Life and Time Extension.

Tarason is one of the most formidable influencers in the indie game media sphere; he’s covered everything from Steam sales to modding scenes for Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer and Unearthed Treasure Room. He’s undoubtedly an influence on my own work. That said, I’m a bit nervous about the sheer quantity of writing Tarason is producing by himself for this project. I hope that he doesn’t burn out!

Rumors Suggest Uncharted Back in Action

Alt text: The logo for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, featuring heroines Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross standing back to back while wielding guns.

According to MP1st, Naughty Dog is currently developing a new Uncharted game to follow up on the studio’s current production, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. This upcoming title is said to be “a new game rather than a remake,” and series hero Nathan Drake will appear “in some form.” It will be led by Shaun Escayg, co-director and writer of Uncharted 4 expansion Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, as well as Creative Director on Crystal Dynamics’s doomed Marvel Avengers.

The Uncharted series began in 2007 with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, under the eye of director Amy Hennig. Uncharted 4, which came out a decade ago in 2016, was instead led by The Last of Us brain trust Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann. A 2022 film starring Tom Holland failed with critics but found commercial success. With The Last of Us having taken the position of Naughty Dog’s golden goose and Intergalactic its next big thing, Uncharted’s place in a rapidly changing games industry remains to be seen.

Fan Translation Corner: A Decade of Whimsy, 10,000 Floors of Pain

Alt text: A screenshot from the English fan translation of Summon Night: Swordcraft Story ~Hajimari no Ishi~, depicting a young boy speaking to a woman by the sea. She is saying, “You’ve done well enduring my training for this long. I’m impressed.”

This week sees the release of two landmark fan translation projects, both (as far as I know) created without using generative AI. The first, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story ~Hajimari no Ishi~, has been in development for over a decade. It’s the sequel to Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1 and 2, action RPGs that were released in English via scuffed but beloved translations. I recommend exploring the project’s website; while the project history has yet to be written, there’s an extensive afterwords section featuring testimonials from eight people who worked on the patch.

The second, Spectral Tower, requires a bit more explanation. The first game ever developed and published by Idea Factory (or as it’s known in Japan, Idea Fuck), it’s a PlayStation dungeon crawler that tasks the player with climbing five towers. The final tower has 10,000 floors! While Spectral Tower is feared by many for its quirky design and fearless embrace of tedium, it also has its share of dedicated fans, like renowned kusoge fan SnowyAria. Are you ready to take a walk on the wild side of RPG design? If so, this might just be the game for you.

Fan Translation Addendum: Eien ni Hen Passes Away

Alt text: A scene from Princess Minerva, depicting a young woman standing in a Sailor Moon-esque pose. She says, “When evil needs thrashing, those in harm’s way ALWAYS call us.”

Per Time Extension, the fan translator Eien ni Hen has passed away. The news was broken by fellow fan translator Garrett Greenwalt, who wrote as part of an X announcement that she “is no longer with us. May she rest in peace.”

During her lifetime, Eien ni Hen contributed to various fan translations of games including Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Dark Half, Princess Minerva, Romancing Saga, and Sakura Taisen, among many others. Writer Jordan Starkweather wrote on Bluesky that “you can’t even comprehend how important Eien ni Hen’s work is to the fan translation community,” while the Substack blog Magnvs’s RPG Journey called her “an irreplaceable part of fantranslation history and an example for anyone working in a field that already has generosity, passion and dedication as prerequisites.” YouTuber Bowl of Lentils also recommended an interview with her from 2014 available via the Wayback Machine.

As for Eien ni Hen, she described herself this way via her profile on the website Romhack.ing: “I’m just a translator, probably one of the few people on this board who doesn’t know too much about ROM hacking. I’ve worked on a ton of projects, though. Mainly platformers and RPGS.”

Update Patch News Roundup (13/10/2026)

They say that deep in the haunted forest lies a cursed place of mystery–the Update Patch. Step around the quicksand swallowing game studios whole, avoid the monster executive in the trees, and you’ll find the newest batch of spooky video game news growing out of the soil like terrible mushrooms. This week: Paramount acquires Warner Bros. Discovery! The potential death of PlayStation VR! An official Sonic the Hedgehog Discord!  But somebody launched a new games journalism website, so that’s nice.

Paramount Acquires Warner Bros. Discovery to Become Skydance

Alt text: The Skydance logo.

Per a press release, Paramount has completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company will be referred to as Skydance. Its various brands now include CNN, Nickelodeon, HBO, MTV, and various others. According to David Ellison, Skydance CEO and Donald Trump ally, “our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor…now that ambition is a reality.” Unfortunately!

That a conservative billionaire now owns several of the most influential media companies in the United States will have various and likely horrifying knock-on effects across the world. Specifically in terms of games, though, Skydance (according to Variety) is combining the recently founded Paramount Games Studio with Warner Bros. Games. Tony Driscoll, the head of Paramount Games Studio, will be president of games and experiences. In a message to employees, he drew a parallel between immersing “our guests in theme parks, resorts, restaurants, retail, studio tours and more,” and immersing “our players in action, adventure, combat, competition and creativity, from ‘Batman’ to ‘SpongeBob…’”

Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has also joined Skydance’s board of directors. Says Ellison (per The Hollywood Reporter), “His record of pairing bold strategic moves with disciplined capital allocation is exactly the experience we need as we bring our businesses together.” Of course, we who follow the games industry have our own distinctive memories of Kotick, including how (per Wall Street Journal) he sat on reports of sexual assault at Activision Blizzard for years, as well as (per Business Insider) the time in 2006 he “reportedly left his assistant a voicemail threatening to have her killed.”

New Piece at Kotaku Explores Unionization Effort at Double Fine

Alt text: The Double Fine logo, depicting a two-headed baby flying through the sky. It is wearing a red and white striped one-piece swimsuit.

A new piece at Kotaku by Rebekah Valentine broke down the failure of a unionisation push at Double Fine, which began in 2018 before ramping up in 2024 and dying (for now) this year. How could the organizers fail despite founder Tim Schafer’s public support of unions? Valentine diagnoses a couple of problems, including the company’s flat structure and Amnesia Fortnite events complicating who counted as a manager; the resulting communication problems that occurred when staff forbade “managers” from speaking to “non-managers” during the process; and specific employees at Double Fine who made it a priority to dismantle every attempt at a union. Valentine also published an interview with Tim Schafer discussing unionisation at the studio.

Who was responsible at Double Fine for the failure of the union? Was it the managers, the middle-managers, or the organizers themselves? Regardless, the mood at Double Fine (likely not helped by its recent escape from Microsoft) is quite grim. But speaking as someone who once assisted with union organizing at my old workplace, unionisation comes from a place of hope as much as anger. You don’t stick around to organize a workplace unless you believe it has a future. Whether or not the organizers succeeded, their efforts were an attempt to address what they saw as systemic rot threatening that future. Now that rot is in the open, and I’m sure the employees remaining at Double Fine aren’t happy about it.

Chris Kerr Launches New Games Journalism Newsletter Vertical Slice

Alt text: An image from the Vertical Slice website, depicting two columns of the words “Vertical Slice.”

Former Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr launched a newsletter called Vertical Slice, to produce “quality video game journalism that inspires, informs, and interrogates.” In the headline piece, titled “What is quality video game journalism worth to you?”, Kerr writes that “I believe with every fibre of my being that you value the journalism I've been producing for over a decade, and now I want to double down and publish even more of the high-quality, worker-centric reporting you've come to expect from me.” The site’s reporting will be free until November 2, 2026; a 33% launch discount for annual and monthly subscriptions is available until November 9th.

While Kerr’s actions resemble those of other games journalists who left websites to found their own newsletters, he insists that he has a different goal in mind. One example of this is the site’s Repository, which already hosts pitch decks and design documents from various projects like Thirsty Suitors and Desktop Explorer, for readers and developers to reference as they see fit.

Kerr also announced via Bluesky that he has commissioned games reporter Nicole Carpenter to contribute reporting to Vertical Slice.

The newsletter “pivot,” Kerr says, “is rapidly closing the door on aspiring journalists in desperate need of mentorship and guidance.” By contrast, he hopes that Vertical Slice will attract “the sharpest journalists in the business, [create] pathways for new talent, and [produce] industry-leading reporting—all while paying our employees and contributors a fair wage.” While I’m not sure what that might look like–proper journalism is expensive enough these days for full-fledged newspapers, much less newsletters–I wish him the best of luck in this effort.

Studio Layoffs Continue at Ninja Theory and Supermassive

Alt text: A scene from Directive 8020, in which a woman wearing a spacesuit stares blankly into the distance.

Studios continue to lay off employees (or shutter entirely) in the game development industry. Per Video Game Chronicle, staff at Hellblade developer Ninja Theory are beginning to announce via LinkedIn that they are “either facing redundancy or have already lost their jobs.” This follows Microsoft’s announcement in September that it would “begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure” after two potential deals to acquire the studio fell through. (Microsoft had already intended to sell the studio even before the debut trailer of its newest project Senua had officially been released.)

Meanwhile, according to Eurogamer, Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games has laid off over 70 employees, as it previously announced via X in August. This follows its previous layoffs of 36 employees in 2025, delaying the release of the studio’s sci-fi project Directive 8020 to 2026.

Sony Transfers XR Patents to Meta

Alt text: The PlayStation VR2 headset and controllers.

According to Road to VR, as first spotted by ZDNet Korea, Meta has recently acquired several Sony patents for extended reality (XR) headsets, such as the PlayStation VR and VR2. Sony transferred 43 US patents between June and September of this year, covering “information processing specific to XR applications, head-mounted displays and various XR glasses types…” Per the recently signed Confirmatory Agreement, 419 global patents are set to transfer, with 180 US patents and 239 “patents filed in Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and other regions.”

Sony launched the PlayStation VR in October 2016 to compete with other consumer virtual reality headsets like Meta’s Oculus Rift. The set saw some success, in particular spawning Astro Bot Rescue Mission, the 2018 predecessor of 2024’s Game Awards-winning title Astro Bot. Yet while its successor, the PlayStation VR2, was met with positive reviews, Sony apparently lost interest in the platform around 2024. It’s no surprise in that respect that Sony would hand over its tech to a company like Meta, which continues to invest in virtual and augmented reality.

Official Sonic the Hedgehog Discord Server Attracts Over 100,000 Users

Alt text: The Sonic logo stares from over the words “Official Discord Launch.”

We at startmenu (especially editor-in-chief Lex Luddy) are all big fans of Sonic the Hedgehog. So of course we were overjoyed to discover that, according to official Sonic the Hedgehog social media channels, Sega has created a Sonic Discord server. The character’s Bluesky account advertises it as “a place to chill and chat all things Sonic the Hedgehog…” The server’s rules include “keep it family friendly,” “no politics and religion,” and “keep content human-made.” Right now there are separate channels for the games, films, IDW comics, and merchandise. An update Q&A posted by the server’s mods on October 6th revealed that over 50,000 people had joined the server within the first few hours. A later statement on the 9th mentioned “100,000 (!) of you still waiting patiently” for posting privileges. That’s a lot of Sonic fans! Sadly, there is no fan art channel as of yet, since “with the large amount of new users joining in, images are disabled by default.”

Richard Garriott Set to Take Back the Rights to Ultima Series

Alt text: An image from the box of Ultima IV, depicting a person with long brown hair (the Avatar) holding a staff with a glowing ankh while standing by the sea. They are wearing a white robe.

In an interview with Jesse Petrilla, Richard “Lord British” Garriott confirmed that he’s set to take back the rights to the Ultima series. “If you are the original holder of a copyright, and you assign or sell it to a publisher or any other entity, after 35 years you can just take it back…all you need to do is to tell them a year before,” he said. “In April of this year I told Electronic Arts, ‘I’m going to take the rights to Ultima back.’ And they wrote back to say, ‘we know that’s the law, and we’ll act accordingly.’”

Electronic Arts acquired Garriott’s studio Origin Systems in 1992, the same year that it released arguably the two best games to bear the Ultima name–Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld. Following the acquisition, though, Ultima’s reputation tanked, with VIII and especially IX being recognised as grand failures. (Ultima Online at least was a fascinating experiment in early MMO design.) The collapse of Origin Systems (as well as other fan-favorite studios like Westwood Studios and Maxis) set a narrative that would dog EA for years: that any studio acquired by the company is doomed to die a shell of its former self.

As one of the two or three most influential RPG series in the history of video games, Ultima’s potential return is a big deal. Don’t celebrate just yet, though. A recent Bluesky post by CuteMonster said that at DragonCon, Garriott announced that he’s busy experimenting with generative AI. Might Ultima fall victim to the slop machine, despite its sterling reputation? We’ll be keeping a close eye.

Ape Escape Revival Under Development at Eastern Star

Alt text: The Japanese cover of Ape Escape, depicting various apes wearing hats marked with police sirens.

Games journalist and personality Jeff Gerstmann announced on his podcast, The Jeff Gerstmann Show, that a new Ape Escape game is in the works. “Who is making it? That’s a good question. My understanding is that it’s an external studio…Evening Star. I heard they were working on it.” Fans may know Evening Star from its Sonic-inspired 3D platformer Penny’s Big Breakway, as well as the team’s beloved pre-studio project Sonic Mania. That said, Gerstmann said the project’s been under way for less than a year, so it may still take some time before it comes out.

The Ape Escape series was a series of platform games led by Japan Studio at Sony. Rather than use the controller’s right analog stick to control the camera, the player instead used the stick to swing a gadget, ideally to capture a monkey. Ape Escape saw three mainline entries for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 as well as multiple spin-off games. Unfortunately, the remnants of Japan Studio at Sony were absorbed by Team Asobi in 2021.

According to Video Games Chronicle, “Ape Escape isn’t the only PlayStation franchise Sony is looking to revive via licensing to smaller third-party studios.” A new Uncharted entry and Killzone remake are currently under development. It does make me wonder, though, what the original developers of the Ape Escape games think about an indie studio picking up the baton.

MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls Announces Jane Foster for Winter 2027

Alt text: An image of Jane Foster in the role of Thor. She is wearing a helmet and wielding a glowing hammer.

A new trailer announced that Jane Foster, embodying the guise of Thor, will join the ranks of MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls next winter in 2027, plus new music composed by guest composer Keiichi Okabe (Nier). She will be followed by Venom (in spring of that year) and Jubilee (that summer). In case you’ve forgotten, Foster is Thor’s former girlfriend, who in Jason Aaron’s Thor run had to juggle superhero duties while slowly dying from breast cancer. Her story is among Marvel’s signature achievements from the 2010s before the publisher totally lost the plot. 

While MARVEL Tōkon has a mixed reputation among friends of mine who are into fighting games, I enjoy the game’s specificity when it comes to bulking out its roster. Sure, the developers could have chosen mainline Thor, but why not Jane Foster? I’d take Beta Ray Bill or Frog Thor as well, but beggars can’t be choosers. Here’s hoping the game continues to improve.

Update Patch News Roundup (21/10/2026)

Another week, another spooky doorway opens into the Update Patch. This week is especially heavy on visual novels, sickness, and death, so brace yourselves accordingly. But I included some good news too, just for you.

Richard “Levelord” Gray Passes Away at 68

Alt text: The cover of Duke Nukem 3D, depicting a man wearing sunglasses who is brandishing guns. A nuclear bomb cloud can be seen behind him.

Apogee Entertainment announced via Bluesky that Richard “Levelord” Gray had passed away this October at the age of 68. The company’s statement reads, “from his legendary work on Duke Nukem 3D to the countless players and developers he inspired, Richard leaves behind a lasting legacy.”

According to PC Gamer, Gray broke into the games industry in his 40s on the strength of his Doom maps. When given a choice between Blood developer Q Studios and Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms, he chose the latter, becoming a level designer on then in-development Duke Nukem 3D. Gray left 3D Realms during development of the expansion to found Hipnotic Interactive (now Ritual Entertainment) and co-create the 1998 first-person shooter SiN. Later in life, he developed the Becky Brogan series of hidden object games.

While not a known name outside FPS circles like John Romero or Carmack, fans revered Gray for his groundbreaking levels, cheeky secrets, and willingness to share what he knew about level design via interviews. You could say that Gray never forgot his roots in the amateur scene even after becoming a professional. Many FPS developers and affiliated artists have come forward to pay tribute to him after his death, including Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War), Andrew Hulshult (Dusk), and Joe Siegler (Duke Nukem 3D). 

Key Writer, Composer Jun Maeda Diagnosed With Pharyngeal Cancer

Alt text: A scene from the opening animation of Angel Beats, depicting a woman with white wings playing the piano. A lit-up city can be seen in the background.

VISUAL ARTS Co., Ltd. announced via X that visual novel writer and composer Jun Maeda has been diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer. Rather than seek treatment, Maeda has chosen to “focus on palliative care, wishing to conserve his strength and devote himself to his creative work.” His current productions include the ongoing phone game Heaven Burns Red as well as an original music project to be released on YouTube. While “Maeda is currently hospitalized,” VISUAL ARTS reassured his fans that “he remains strongly determined to devote himself to creative work through to the very end.”

Maeda first caught people’s attention in the games industry with MOON., which he developed with fellow writer and collaborator Naoki Hisaya at Tactics. Later, his team joined VISUAL ARTS to found the studio Key, which became known for its nakige (or “crying game”) titles. As a writer, Maeda can be hit or miss; he’s penned works that are beloved (his magnum opus CLANNAD) and despised (the anime series The Day I Became a God). As a composer and lyricist though, he’s undoubtedly one of the most influential talents in Japanese subculture, creating generation-defining bangers (“My Soul, Your Beats!”) and haunting BGM (“Natsukage”) alike.

Maeda was previously treated in 2016 for “idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy,” or (per Anime News Network) the “unexplained enlargement and weakening of the heart's left ventricle.” That he now must endure cancer is like a cruel twist from one of his stories. Nevertheless, I remember C-pia! Magazine’s essay “This is Maeda Jun,” which asserts the guiding theme of his work is that “a happy, imperfect life is a greater ideal than one of endless satisfaction.” Now Maeda is living those values.

House House Declines to Release Big Walk on Xbox, Citing BDS Boycott

Alt text: A scene from Big Walk, depicting various people sitting together in the game near a sofa.

House House, the developers of Untitled Goose Game, released a statement on October 15th saying that it would not release its newest game Big Walk, via the Xbox platform. This is because the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement has requested that people boycott Microsoft’s gaming products to pressure the company into ceasing its involvement in “Israel’s genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip” via “cloud and AI services.” This boycott specifically includes Xbox products rather than Windows PCs.

House House acknowledges that “some people will miss out on playing Big Walk with their friends, and we understand the disappointment we’re causing.” Nevertheless, the company asserts that “we’ve made this decision with the belief that meaningful change can be made in the world, that coordinated collective action can confront even the most powerful interests, and that one day, Palestine will be free.” 

House House previously participated in Australia’s Pay the Rent movement, donating 1% of its income to Indigenous groups including “the Wurundjeri Tribe Council, Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, and Seed Mob.” 

Epic Games Continues “AI First” Pivot

Alt text: The Epic Games logo.

Epic Games continues to embrace generative AI as a core priority for the studio. First, Bloomberg reported that the studio has not only delayed an upcoming collaboration with Disney, but also requested that its developers “implement an ‘AI first’ production model using tools such as Anthropic’s Claude.” One of the game’s directors told staff that there would be “no more hand-written code,” and that art would be “generated with full AI workflows.”

Over on X, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney asserted that while “we have a huge pivot underway here at Epic…the aim isn't to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.”  Nevertheless, Bloomberg suggested that Epic’s Disney collaboration was delayed “because Epic underestimated how many staffers and how much time it would take to produce…”

Later in the week, Epic Games announced a new “vibe coded” beta launcher for the Epic Games Store. “Programming is hard,” it said. “So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look.” The launcher is currently available for testing purposes, but is feature-light, as it is “a speedboat and not a yacht!” 

Ubisoft Shuts Down RedLynx, Lays Off Workers at Singapore, Mainz, Berlin and Dusseldorf

Alt text: The logo for RedLynx, depicting a winking cat under the words RedLynx: A Ubisoft Studio.

Per GamesIndustry, Ubisoft has proposed closing its studio RedLynx, the developers of the Trials series. A statement from Ubisoft said that “today, we informed our teams of a proposal to close RedLynx in Finland, subject to the local change negotiation process, which would affect up to 52 positions…” At the same time, Ubisoft is cutting 70 jobs at Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind the long-delayed pirate game Skull and Bones. Both RedLynx and Ubisoft Singapore were made part of Ubisoft’s “Creative Network” of support studios in 2026 as part of its reorganization into a new “Creative Houses” model.

Additionally, according to Game File, Ubisoft intends to cut 100 jobs at its three German studios Mainz, Berlin, and Dusseldorf. Berlin and Dusseldorf are fellow “Creative Network” support studios, while Mainz took charge on last year’s Anno 117: Pax Romana. These cuts are part of a string of layoffs that (says Game File) has reduced Ubisoft’s overall headcount from 20,729 workers in September 2022 to 16,590 workers in March 2026.

Summer Eternal Announces Disco Elysium Meets ImmSim Title Red Rooster

Alt text: An image promoting Red Rooster, depicting a man whose face is blowing away to reveal a burning house. A burning city can be seen in the background.

The game studio and art collective Summer Eternal announced its first game production, Red Rooster, an “incendiary, physics-driven RPG” about an arson investigator and a mathematician exploring an alternate history city in search of the culprit behind a string of fires. The team, which is founded in part by former ZA/UM employees, aims to combine the extensive script of its previous work Disco Elysium with the physics of immersive sims like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. 

To support this effort, Summer Eternal has launched an Anthology including coverage of Red Rooster. Those who purchase the Anthology (or anything else created by Summer Eternal) may enter into the Summer Eternal Players Non-Profit, which owns 5% of the studio. Currently, the Anthology has sold through its first printing; a second printing will go live in November. 

Other studios developing successors to Disco Elysium include Red Info, Longdue and Dark Math Games. ZA/UM itself launched its own successor Zero Parades this year before laying off 32 employees.

SEGA Removes Total War Shogun 2 – Complete Edition From Sale Following Botched Release 

Alt text: An image of Total War Shogun 2 – Complete Edition, depicting two military leaders squaring off in the sky. Their armies can be seen fighting in the fields below.

SEGA has pulled Total War Shogun 2 – Complete Edition from sale just two days after its October 13 release. “We’re aware that Total War Shogun 2 – Complete Edition has fallen short of both your expectations and our own standards,” read a statement the company made via Bluesky. “We are working closely with our development partner to identify the causes of these problems, deliver improvements, and ensure Shogun 2 – Complete Edition meets the quality standards players expect from Total War.” The company also reinstated the original version of Total War Shogun 2, which it had removed from sale following the release of Complete Edition.

Total War: Shogun 2 was initially released in 2011 to positive reviews. The Complete Edition promised improved visuals, new Japanese and Chinese voice acting and localizations, and several dozen newly playable minor factions among other features. Instead, per Kotaku, fans found a version of the game with worse performance than the original, bugged mod support, and greatly reduced graphical detail in the game’s unit cards due to what may have been a botched AI upscale. 

Uchikoshi Announces Game Cancellation, New Studio CRASH KEYS

Alt text: An image of the Crash Keys logo, which features a keyhole as well as a key and broken glass symbol. Gibberish text can be seen below.

In a statement made via X, visual novel writer Kotaro Uchikoshi announced that the game he had previously been working on had been cancelled. At the same time, he revealed that in March 2026, he had founded a new studio called CRASH KEYS, which specializes “in video game design, direction, and narrative writing. (And... just between us, it's also a secret organization dedicated to protecting world peace.)” While he initially hoped to announce CRASH KEYS with the announcement of this new game in 2027, this was not to be. 

The CRASH KEYS website features the company’s address, biographies of Uchikoshi and his fellow writers, and a contact form for interview requests. Weirdly enough, per Siliconera, there are also secret messages on the website, which could be either remnants of the cancelled project or evidence of an ongoing ARG. 

In an additional statement, Uchikoshi confirmed that he remains a part of Too Kyo Games, where he developed Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy with Danganronpa writer Kazutaka Kodaka. “I may have fallen in love with him, but we'd never have a falling-out,” Uchikoshi wrote. “We're still so close that we even have pajama parties at each other's houses, sipping strawberry milk boba together…” He also attributes the cancellation of his project in part to “major changes in the game development landscape” caused by AI.

Ladykiller in a Bind DLC Ladykiller Unleashed Sets Sail

Alt text: An image promoting Ladykiller Unleashed, depicting various characters from the game including the Beast, the Actress, the Lady and her Knight. The Beauty and the Stalker can also be seen in the background.

In a surprising move, Get in the Car, Loser! developer Christine Love has released DLC for her 2016 visual novel My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!! (also known as Ladykiller in a Bind), titled Ladykiller in a Bind - Ladykiller Unleashed. This new project features art by SYDNEY J as well as 78,000 additional words of sex, bondage, and goofiness. 

The original Ladykiller in a Bind featured art by Love’s long-time collaborator Raide, who passed away in 2020. “It was just as much his baby as mine,” Love said via Bluesky, “and I couldn't imagine coming back to it without him. But what I came to realize was that if I wanted to keep his memory alive, the work we did together is where I can still find him after all this time.”

Update Patch News Roundup (26/10/2026)

Another Halloween of ghosts haunting freshly dug graves. Another installment of Update Patch. 

Electronic Arts Closes BioWare, Lays Off Staff at Maxis, Motive, Full Circle, and Ripple Effect 

Alt text: In the ending of Mass Effect 3, Liara studies a large tombstone commemorating the dead.

According to Bloomberg, the company Electronic Arts (EA) is laying off 3% of its staff, or “around 400” of its 14,500 employees. As a consequence, EA is downsizing the team behind skate., switching development at The Sims studio Maxis from “Project Lotus” to “Project Evergreen,” and–most shockingly–eliminating famed, Edmonton-based RPG studio BioWare. A report from Vertical Slice clarified that EA has also laid off developers at Battlefield co-developers Motive Studio and Ripple Effect Studios.

EA was bought out by a consortium made up of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners (founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner), this August for $55 billion. Company CEO Andrew Wilson said that “this moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world's leading interactive entertainment companies…" Roughly a year before the buyout, several Sims YouTubers (per PC Gamer) backed out of the EA Creator Network, citing Saudi Arabia’s conservatism as antithetical to Maxis’s embrace of LGBTQ players.

Project Lotus, previously known as Project Rene, was pitched as a Sims game for mobile with multiplayer functionality. Little is known about Project Evergreen, although IGN links it to the teased Project X–which is “viewed more like The Sims 4 2.0” rather than a new numbered entry. Senior Creative Director of The Sims at Maxis, Anna Huerta, was laid off at the same time as the shift from Lotus to Evergreen.

As for BioWare, its death is shocking and yet by no means a surprise. The studio had already endured years of mismanagement by EA, which required that games like Dragon Age: Inquisition be made with its complex in-house Frostbite game engine. EA also encouraged BioWare to develop multiplayer games like Anthem, for which the studio proved to be poorly suited. BioWare’s reputation for including LGBTQ+ characters in its recent games also couldn’t have helped its chances with the PIF. 

Then again, BioWare could be its own worst enemy, too. The studio became infamous for what it called “BioWare magic,” the insistence that (per Kotaku) “no matter how rough a game’s production might be, things will always come together in the final months.” Studio politics, poor planning, and burnout led to consecutive commercial and critical failures. Talent either left the studio or was made to leave, scattering across the games industry. Only 50 employees at BioWare remained to be laid off by EA following the studio’s closure.

What kept BioWare alive in our hearts was how it meant so much to so many different people. Older fans knew them as the developers of Baldur’s Gate, which revived the computer RPG’s commercial prospects and birthed the beloved Infinity Engine games. Star Wars enthusiasts recognized Knights of the Old Republic as the first great extended universe computer RPG. Neverwinter Nights gave players a toolset to create their own stories. Then there was Dragon Age and (in particular) Mass Effect, which set the standard for the cinematic console RPG. 

To quote my fellow startmenu writer WordsMaybe, a BioWare expert and scholar: “Its been a slow bleeding for years now, but shit still fucking sucks. Those ousted over the years deserve better. Those who remained do. One second of a BioWare game is 100× more valuable than anything Andrew Wilson and his ilk have ever done.” Ain’t that the truth.

Since EA announced BioWare’s closure, a trailer for what would have been the newest Mass Effect game–Mass Effect Universe–has leaked online. YouTuber Dantics suggested the game would have restaged the sci-fi conflict of earlier titles as a “cold war” scenario, while technical director Romain Toutain (per Kotaku) teased a branching timeline system that would have let players “almost generate timelines, kinda like Zero Time Dilemma.” Meanwhile, according to IGN, Amazon Prime Video’s Mass Effect television series remains in production.

Arkane Studios Pursues “Multiple Paths” to Avoid Closure

Alt text: Blade, a black man wearing a black leather jacket, pulls a sword out of a sheath slung over his back.

A new report from Le Monde, as spotted by Gematsu, suggests that Lyon-based Arcane Studios has until November 13 to find a buyer before Microsoft shuts down the studio. This is due to France’s Florange Law passed in 2014, which (per Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer) “imposes a new obligation for employers to seek to find a buyer for a site before definitively deciding to close the site and make redundancies” for companies with over 1000 employees. Arkane Studios reportedly began looking for a buyer “mid-summer.” 

Arkane Studios is currently developing a game based on the comic book character Blade, which began development in 2022. Le Monde quoted a union representative that the game is “nearing the end of production,” and that its cancellation “would be a monumental waste.”  Nevertheless, “several forms of takeover” are currently under consideration. Games journalist Jason Schreier said via Bluesky that “there are multiple paths actively being explored that would save Arkane Lyon. Anything can happen during negotiations, but at this point I'd be surprised if the studio is shut down.” 

Arkane’s previous works include the Dishonored series as well as the time-loop assassination game Deathloop. Its sister studio, Arkane Austin (Prey), was shut down by Microsoft in 2024.

Umamusume Cancels EVENT WORLD TOUR: THE STAGE Concert

Alt text: A horse girl from film Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Beginning of a New Era runs very, very fast.

Cygames has cancelled its upcoming Umamusume concert, EVENT WORLD TOUR: THE STAGE, which was scheduled for October 22-23 in Los Angeles at the Peacock Theater. “Although we have coordinated repeatedly with all parties concerned and explored every possible option in our efforts to make this event happen,” says a note on the Umamusume website, “we were unable to obtain the necessary visas for entry into the US, so we have come to the painful conclusion that holding the concerts is no longer possible.” Aside from refunding tickets, Cygames is taking the unusual step of “reimburs[ing] travel and lodging expenses” for attendees so long as they provide proof of payment and receipts.

Per the Japan Times, “all 17 announced performers” set for the Umamusume concert “would have needed visas if they didn’t already have them, as would the crew members accompanying them to LA.” The newspaper suggests that “the process would have been time-consuming even without additional requests for evidence…” That the Trump administration in particular is so anti-immigration cannot help matters. Time will tell whether EVENT WORLD TOUR: THE STAGE’s cancellation will have a chilling effect on other events in the United States that rely on Japanese guests.

In case you’ve missed it, Umamusume is a phone game and multimedia franchise in which you train horse girls to win races and also sing in idol concerts. Despite the far-out premise, the series has been popular abroad, even appearing at Kentucky Horse Park’s “Uma no Kokoro” exhibit exploring the role of horses in Japanese history and culture.

Capcom, Square Enix Accounts Hacked by Unauthorized Third Party

Alt text: Diana, a young female robot with long blonde hair who hails from the Capcom game Pragmata, studies a globe. Her surrogate dad Hugh, who is wearing a futuristic spacesuit, can be seen behind her.

The video game studio Capcom announced via press release that on October 19th, an unauthorized third party had obtained customer information associated with its online account service CAPCOM ID*1. This information includes email address records, system-specific identifiers including the client’s last IP address, and other personal information like dates of birth and listed gender. In particular, 11.7 million account email addresses were affected worldwide. Although “credit card information was not included among the affected information,” the company did catch “unauthorized changes to CAPCOM ID account login passwords” for 196 accounts.

A day later, Capcom published another newsletter clarifying that an unauthorized third party had accessed 19 of the aforementioned 196 accounts with changed passwords via the online store e-Capcom. The user obtained data including “telephone number, postal code” and “address,” although still no credit card numbers. “The Company takes this incident extremely seriously,” reads the newsletter, “and will steadily implement measures to prevent recurrence while working to further strengthen its information-security framework.”

Additionally, per Kotaku (quoting Yahoo! News), Square Enix also recently announced that an unauthorized third party had accessed Final Fantasy XIV accounts on October 19th. “Access to the accounts was not the result of a direct breach of Square Enix’s own security and databases,” said the company, “but a result of this third party using credentials gathered from the security breaches of other companies to access these accounts.”

Shigeru Miyamoto Awarded Order of Culture

Alt text: A scene from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, depicting Mario, Yoshi, Luigi and Princess Peach flying through space. Mario is riding Yoshi.

The Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has awarded Mario creator and designer Shigeru Miyamoto the Order of Culture for 2026. Miyamoto was one of eight people awarded the honor this year, a number that includes architect Toyo Ito and lighting designer Motoko Ishii. Past nominees include filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and manga artist Tetsuya Chiba. Miyamoto is the first game designer to be awarded the Order of Culture; per Gameindustry, he was previously awarded as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2019. The official ceremony will take place on November 3rd, and (as tradition) will be led by the Emperor of Japan.

The Curse of Ogareito Fan Translation Emerges This Halloween

Alt text: A fan-made English image advertising The Curse of Ogaerito. It depicts a woman who is slowly turning into a fish-person, while zombies and fish-people growl behind her. A message reads, “A tragedy unfolds on an isolated island ruled by a bizarre cult…cursed bodies begin to twist into hideous forms…the choice is yours. Save your sweetheart. Or murder her…a horror roleplaying game where you decide her fate.”

Fan translators and hackers Chapu, Verneri Kotto, LaytonLoztew and Whowasphone404 have announced that their fan translation of Ningyo no Rakuin (or as they’re calling it, The Curse of Ogaereito) is set for release on October 31st. Says Chapu, “absolutely no AI, LLM or MTL was used in the making of this patch!”

Ningyo no Rakuin was a strategy horror RPG developed by prominent support studio Highwaystar for the PS1 in 2000.  Inspired by the works of influential horror author and racist HP Lovecraft, it tells the story of two young adults who must escape a desert island packed with Old God-worshipping cultists. There’s also a mermaid, although we’re talking a monstrous mermaid from Japanese folklore (or perhaps “Shadow Over Innsmouth”) rather than the melancholy Hans Christian Anderson variant. I’m particularly curious to see where this game fits into the history of Japanese horror RPGs alongside Laplace no Ma and Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners. 

Update Patch News Roundup (03/11/2026)

Well, Halloween is over! You know what that means: time for a perfectly normal installment of Update Patch, in which nothing remotely spooky happens. No studio closures, no existential dread. Just video games. Wouldn’t that be a nice change for once? Oh well. I don’t know who I’m trying to fool here.

The Duskbloods, Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold Delayed to 2027

Alt text: A shot from The Duskbloods, depicting the armored chicken-like Zork walking through swamps with his large harpoon gun.

FromSoftware’s upcoming multiplayer game The Duskbloods has been delayed to 2027, as announced by the project’s X account. “We apologize to players who have been kindly awaiting the release of this title and thank you for your patience and support,” it says. The team hopes to use this additional time to make “final adjustments to game rules and balancing” for the purposes of “combat, strategic depth, and player expression.” My hope is that From Software uses this extra time to make Zork, everybody’s favorite “armored sea chicken…who drinks blood with his beak ‘like a mosquito,” even more powerful. 

Additionally, the newest Final Fantasy XIV expansion Evercold has been delayed from its initial January 2027 release date to February 19 (early access) and 23 (full release). “We were on track to just barely get the game to you in the original schedule,” said producer Naoki Yoshida. “But to address several issues and bring the game to a level of quality you’d be satisfied with, I personally made the call to extend the release date.” The expansion will feature a new class (the hawk-wielding Zephyr), system changes to encourage weekly rather than daily log-ins, and a mysterious collaboration with the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, among other features. 

Former Mass Effect: Universe Staff Release Concept Soundtrack and Disclose Writing Talent, Behind the Scenes Politics

Alt text: A shot from the leaked Mass Effect: Universe trailer, depicting a man speaking with an asari woman.

Following Electronic Arts’s closure of the famed Canadian RPG developer BioWare last week, news has continued to leak regarding the studio’s closure, as well as the specifics of its cancelled project Mass Effect: Universe. We now know, for instance (per Bloomberg), that EA closed BioWare because it chose to prioritise an upcoming sequel to Star Wars: Battlefront instead. This new sequel is not yet in production, but would be very expensive, and as a first-person shooter with plenty of room for live-service updates and microtransactions, it fits better with EA’s sensibilities.

Most intriguing to me are the artists that have come forward regarding their work on Universe. Journey composer Austin Wintory came forward with 22 minutes of musical “ideas” for the game. “Working on Mass Effect 5 was my career's biggest dream project, my white whale,” he said via YouTube. “It is my favorite franchise of all time, and for the last couple years I'd been in serious conversations with BioWare and EA to jump in.” This video was “pure musical exploration” without knowledge of the game itself.

Additionally, science fiction and fantasy writer Catherynne M. Valente announced via X that she was one of the writers working on Mass Effect: Universe. “It was one of the greatest privileges & GLORIOUS challenges of my life,” she wrote. “I smiled every day. I worked HARD for the fans, every day.” Valente previously wrote the reportedly very good Mass Effect: Andromeda tie-in novel Mass Effect: Annihilation. Outside of science fiction, she’s known for riffing on folklore with “mythpunk” novels like The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. 

Could Mass Effect: Universe have been the game to turn BioWare’s ailing fortunes around? It’s hard to say. An article about the studio quoted a former BioWare employee that “they were asked to remove a flag from [Mass Effect Universe] for looking too similar to an LGBTQ+ Pride flag.” This couldn’t have flown with Valente, who is vocally in favor of LGBTQ folks in both her novels and her online presence. We’ll never know how much cool stuff would have made it into the game, and how much would be weeded out by producers, investors, or the typical pressures of development.

Fans have launched a petition to #SaveMassEffect, even purchasing billboards in Times Square, New York City. But let’s not forget where our sympathies should lie–not with intellectual property, but with the workers who have been laid off from BioWare over the years as well as following the studio’s closure. To quote game developer Warren Spector: “Maybe all of the people who participated—the folks in suits (real or virtual) should lose their damn jobs. I ask them to ponder this: What do you contribute to gaming? What price do you pay for failure? I’d love to see THEM on the unemployment line instead of the people who do real work. Why is it always the do-ers and makers who pay the price?”

Extremely OK Games Delists Celeste, TowerFall on Xbox

Alt text: A scene from Celeste, where red-haired Maddy and bearded Theo take a photo together.

Celeste developer Maddy Thorson announced via Bluesky that her team at Extremely OK Games had “delisted Celeste and TowerFall on Xbox. We did this to support the BDS boycott.” The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement currently requests that people “pressure Microsoft with divestment and exclusion from contracts, whenever feasible.” This is because Microsoft “provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are central to accelerating Israel’s genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip.” Extremely OK Games joins Big Walk developer House House in boycotting Microsoft.

Generative AI Inspires Clones, Discourse, Feet in Mouths

Alt text: A scene from the opening animation of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. It depicts the words “Have you heard the story about the crystallization of glycerin?” superimposed over a molecule.

Generative AI continues to be a topic of debate within the video games industry. Per Inven Global, Steam business team employees Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson discussed the current torrent of AI-created games at the Korean developer event Steam Indie Connect. The two of them acknowledged they have received news from developers who are being threatened with extortion emails, reading, “If you don't pay, we'll copy your game with AI and release it first.” While Giardino “expressed regret,” he also “noted that clone games were a problem long before AI,” and that the technology had simply increased the pace at which developers are chasing trends.

Meanwhile, indie game platform itch released a graph on Bluesky with the statement that “the number of game pages being created per day has doubled in the past two months.” When asked to clarify, the account confirmed that “the number of downloads and purchases has *not* doubled…” itch currently requires that all asset creators posting their work on itch disclose if their work was made via generative AI. Untagged works, “even if modified afterwards...will no longer be eligible for indexing on our browse pages.”

Despite fan frustration with generative AI, some developers remain bullish on using it for their own projects. Black & White designer Peter Molyneux told PC Gamer in an interview that “it's almost impossible to code now without using AI…the efforts you have to go to extract AI from line completion stuff and from generative stuff is very challenging.” He went on to claim that generative AI is “the biggest advance in creativity for smaller studios, for medium studios and bigger studios.” 

Later, in a truly astonishing statement, Zero Escape director and writer Kotaro Uchikoshi compared his use of generative AI to his support of LGBTQ people via X. ‘A lot of people told me, "If you're going to support them, I'm never buying another one of your games,”’ he wrote. “But I still stand by that belief today, and this time is no different. You know the line: ‘This above all: to thine own self be true.’”

Sony Pictures Acquires Rights to Mouthwashing Film

Alt text: A scene from the game Mouthwashing, depicting a man crossing his arms in front of a wall of text reading, “OUR WORST MOMENTS DON’T MAKE US MONSTERS?”

Per Deadline, Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to the independent video game Mouthwashing by developer Wrong Organ. The film will be produced via the Crooked Highway banner by frequent collaborators Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (The Black Phone), plus President of Production Vince Cheng, a former producer for PlayStation Productions. Most notably to me, the film is set to be directed by Karyn Kusama, who you may know from underrated films like Jennifer’s Body as well as the pilot episode of Yellowjackets. 

Since horror films are booming right now, and the recent Resident Evil film was a big success, it’s no surprise that Hollywood is looking for other games to adapt into films. Just this year, YouTuber Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) wrote, directed, and produced an adaptation of Iron Lung that grossed $51 million. Mouthwashing is a relatively short experience that utilises cinematic techniques. It could be a good fit for a film, although whether it really needs to be adapted at all is a separate question.

KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS Reveals Death Stranding Isolations Trailer

Alt text: The Death Stranding Isolations poster, depicting a blonde woman standing next to a reverse trike.

KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS released a new trailer for Death Stranding Isolations, an upcoming anime series set in the bizarre Death Stranding universe. It depicts a young blonde woman waking up from a nightmare. The accompanying poster reveals this woman standing by a reverse trike in front of a crater, with the tagline “My mom became a crater.” The series will be streamed via Disney+ in 2027.

The series will be produced by Hideo Kojima, animated at E&H Productions (Bullet/Bullet), and directed by Takayuki Sano. Art direction will be by the talented Yann Le Gall, who’s best known for working on various Satelight series like AKB0048 and Basquash. The script will be written by the ever-prolific Tow Ubukata (Heroic Age, Psycho Pass 2), who, per Crunchyroll News, was arrested in 2015 “on suspicion of domestic violence against his wife.” (These charges were later dropped after his wife declined to press charges. Ubukata later sold and published a memoir of his time in prison following the arrest.)

Video game adaptations of anime have become increasingly popular following the success of series like Castlevania and Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Original works that take inspiration from games, rather than directly try to replicate them on screen, have been particularly successful. So it’s no surprise that Kojima, as an anime fan himself, would get in on the action. I wish he picked a better scriptwriter than Ubukata, though!

Nagoshi Studios Officially Shuts Down

Alt text: A scene from the trailer of Gang of Dragon, depicting a man speaking into a cellphone.

According to Kotaku, Nagoshi Studio closed on October 31st. This follows news this March that NetEase (per Bloomberg) had cut funding for the studio’s upcoming game Gang of Dragon, as well as rumors swirling after the studio temporarily deleted its YouTube channel. Nagoshi Studio’s co-founder Daisuke Sato also previously listed himself as “ex-Nagoshi Studio” on his X bio.

Nagoshi Studio was founded in 2025 by Sega of Japan’s former chief creative officer Toshihiro Nagoshi as well as Daisuke Sato. Previously, Nagoshi had led the beat-em-up series Yakuza, which found international success with Yakuza 0 to become one of Sega’s defining works. He left Sega in October 2021 after briefly becoming Sega’s creative director in January of that year. Where he will go next (not to mention Nagoshi Studio’s other staff) is now up in the air. Meanwhile, Sega has polarized fans with the upcoming Stranger Than Heaven (which features the likeness of murdered rapper Tupac Shakur) as well as the critical bomb Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties (which featured actor Teruyuki Kagawa, who, per IGN, has been “been accused by multiple women of sexual assault.”)

On a brighter note, though, fans have recently translated the PS3 title Ryū ga Gotoku: Kenzan! into English. Now you, too, can discover this bridge between eras. Ryū ga Gotoku: Kenzan! may be a fan’s last recourse, for now; if modern Yakuza is flailing, and the presumptive heir to the series was killed in the cradle, the past is all that’s left.