[PATREON UNLOCK] Update Patch - September 2026

Update Patch News Roundup (07/09/2026)

Welcome to the first Startmenu Update Patch of the month. The year is already nearly over, and September is shaping up to be a wild month. There are many games releasing this month in the lead up to Grand Theft Auto 6, as not a single company dares to release its game near that behemoth release. Thus, it’s led to many titles, triple-A and indie alike, to release in September.

Nintendo Announces Two Directs For Next Week

This one is just mind-blowing. Nintendo has announced two different directs for next week, one of which will be dedicated solely to The Legend of Zelda for its 40th anniversary. Speculation for the event is already running rampant, with many suspecting a previously leaked Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch 2 will be unveiled alongside new information about the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake and details on the upcoming movie.

As for predictions for the other direct, it's anyone's guess as to what will be announced.e have already had a Fire Emblem direct recently, and only Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and the aforementioned Zelda left filling out 2026’s first-party Switch 2 slate.

Grand Theft Auto VI Breaks The Internet

It comes as no surprise that GTA 6 has broken the Internet yet again. The upcoming game recently had a showcase hosted exclusively on Netflix. So many people attempted to stream (or restream it on Twitch) that it led to the website being unusable as the servers became overloaded. The showcase pulled in a whopping 3.97 million views live. Twitch, Netflix, and YouTube respectively struggled to keep up with the traffic, with all three websites crashing on multiple occasions. 

However, it’s not all bad. Xbox and PlayStation have seen an increase in sales since the GTA 6 news. Since the console wars are (unfortunately) alive and well, it spelled good news for both, as the GTA 6 showcase helped give both consoles a 30% sales boost. 

Halloween: The Game Lets You Make Out In A Cupboard

Ever thought that having a quickie in the closet with someone while you’re on the run from a murderer is a good idea? Well, Halloween: The Game allows you to do just that. With the game releasing just a few days ago, players are finding that there is a very odd event that you can engage with.

While running away from Michael Myers, you can quickly dive into a closet to hide. If someone else happens to join you, you are able to engage in a small mini-game where you can get your rocks off. It has left many players and viewers speechless. Because really, in what world would you ever jump into a closet to bone while there is a guy with a knife five minutes behind you?

The Blood of Dawnwalker Sells 1 Million Copies

The debut title by Rebel Wolves - the studio comprised of some of the Witcher developers has announced that The Blood of Dawnwalker has already sold over one million copies in just three days. The developers stated that they are receptive to feedback and have been working to smooth out performance and technical issues on PC and console alike. 

It’s also nice to see a game succeed that isn’t using GenAI in this day and age, especially as a game that is as large and detailed as The Blood of Dawnwalker. I’m yet to play it myself, but it has its rightful place on my wishlist.

Riot Games Still Working on MMO

It is both fascinating and confusing that Riot Games insists that it is continuing to work on the MMO when it has done so many of its recent games a massive disservice. Having folded Riot Forge, a publishing label for small games based on the League of Legends IP, in 2024, Riot recently announced that active support would cease at the end of the year for the notably long-in-development 2XKO . This has led to a lot of warranted frustration, as the free-to-play fighting game barely got a chance to exist before it has already been snuffed out. Many less diehard fans didn’t even know that the game had fully launched to the public due to the lack of advertising that Riot put out. Perhaps more frustratingly, is that game seemed to be doing somewhat respectable numbers in the FGC space even if it hadn’t broken into the mainstream; while not on Steam (meaning no SteamDB numbers), the game was the third most registered for game EVO this year (behind only mainstays Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8). 

The irony that Mark Merrill claims that the League of Legends MMO will be the “grail” is just mind-boggling. How can this be said when every single game aside from the flagship MOBA, Valorant, and Teamfight Tactics is shot before it even gets a chance to exist in the world? 

Overall, September is shaping up to be an interesting month, with a lot of big-name releases ahead of us. I am personally very excited for Silent Hill: Townfall and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. I can hear the cries of my wallet if I listen carefully. 

Update Patch News Roundup (14/09/2026)

This week has been a chaotic one in the gaming world, with many new announcements for upcoming games. It’s been a delicate balance of the good and the bad, and this Update Patch will fill you in on some of the news you may have missed out on this week.

Level-5 Continues to Double Down on AI Usage

In one of the most disappointing turns of events, Level-5, the developer behind beloved franchises such as Professor Layton, Ni no Kuni, and Fantasy Life, has doubled down on its GenAI usage. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but in this day and age, I’m not. After Level-5 had a fair few reveals in a showcase last week, it has admitted to using Generative AI in order to make the showcase “more spectacular.” This has led to a lot of outrage and disappointment across the board, especially with the announcement of long-awaited franchise returns including Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch.

The CEO has responded to the various comments made by people who reacted to the game announcements and apologised for making people uncomfortable. It unfortunately doesn’t undo the immense damage it's done to Level-5’s reputation, and the number of people who are now going to be avoiding the upcoming releases it had planned.

BlizzCon’s Opening Ceremony Announces Diablo 5 and new StarCraft

There were many interesting announcements from Blizzard Entertainment at the BlizzCon opening ceremony. Admittedly, there were a few that I am quite excited about myself. Namely, the return of Heroes of the Storm, where it was announced that a new hero would be coming to the game. As well as the return of HOTS, a new Hearthstone expansion was announced, a lot of World of Warcraft content, and, most surprisingly, a teaser trailer for Diablo V. Blizzard is apparently targeting 2029 for Diablo 5, implying the game is surprisingly far out from getting a specific date. It seems a little surprising that Blizzard is already gearing up to make the fifth instalment when it feels like just yesterday that Diablo IV  was released. 

The return of StarCraft was also teased, with a traditionally expensive-looking pre-rendered trailer presented by longtime Far Cry veteran Dan Haye. However, fans will unfortunately have a long time to wait, as it’s not expected to make a comeback until 2030 (at least). Moreover, it won’t be the beloved RTS that fans know. Instead, it will be making a return as an open-world shooter… 

And while I can’t help but think to myself, “Do wereally needed more of those?” It is worth noting that as recently as last week, according to local newspaper Chosun, the Korean gaming giant Nexon was apparently trying to court Blizzard to purchase the StarCraft IP wholesale. It is not impossible that something is being lost in translation and the grapevine here, and that Blizzard does, in fact, have wider plans for reviving the franchise, which is still home to a high-profile competitive scene in some regions

Physint Fumbled By PlayStation, Picked Up By Xbox

In a shocking turn of events, PlayStation apparently dropped Hideo Kojima’s project Physint back in June. Leading to this week's world-shattering gamble by Xbox, which has now picked up the project instead. Physint was first announced at a State of Play in 2024, and is now in the loving arms of… Microsoft?

It was later explained by sources close to the matter that this was due to missed deadlines, exceeding budgets, and Death Stranding not selling the way Sony had d hoped it would – all things either synonymous with Kojima development, or easily predicted by anyone who realised he was making a quiet, meandering game about walking. New Sony leadership had apparently been growing unpleased with PlayStation’s funding arrangement for the game; the company was fronting much of the development costs; however, Kojima Productions still reserved enough independence that its games could be ported to PC and other platforms after enough time.

Xbox, apparently realising that a spiritual successor to Metal Gear is much more marketable than the oftentimes self-indulgent mediation on the human experience, picked up the game, and will now be publishing it instead of PlayStation. Between this, the ongoing disdain for PlayStation’s shift away from physical games, a raft of failed and cancelled live service games, and Wolverine shaping up to be a bit disappointing, PR for PlayStation is not looking good right now. 

Xbox will not only be publishing Physint when it releases, but it is also publishing OD, the spiritual successor to P.T. The console wars continue.

Polyarc Closes Its Doors After 12 Years

In some of the most devastating news of the week, Polyarc is closing its doors after 12 years. Polyarc, best known for releasing Moss on the PlayStation VR headset, announced on LinkedIn the departure of the studio.

“Working together over all of these years has been an honor. Bringing surprise and delight to those who played our games has been a privilege. Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished.”

Over the years, it created Moss, Moss: Book II, GlassBreakers: Champions of Moss, and then just this year, Moss: The Forgotten Relic – a flatsceen/non-VR remake of the first two Moss games. It is heartbreaking news, and I can only hope that all of the talented members of Polyarc find their footing with ease.

Nintendo Gives Back-to-Back Directs

Hearing that we would be getting not one, but two different Nintendo Directs felt like a dream. One was solely focused on The Legend of Zelda for the 40th anniversary, while the other finally gave some life to the Nintendo Switch 2.

Fans finally got a look at the upcoming remake of Ocarina of Time, and it is looking beautiful. I’ll admit, I was on the fence with how cartoonish Link looked as a child. However, the rest of the game looks phenomenal, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. 

The day after, fans saw another Nintendo Direct, which had a little something for everyone. There were announcements for the next installment in the Metroid series. Metroid Ravenous will be released in January of next year. Then there was Kirby and the World Beyond, which looks positively adorable, as all Kirby games tend to do. While there is no official date just yet, it is set to release in spring of next year to coincide with the franchise’s 35th anniversary.

Surprisingly, Nintendo is finally giving us something for free. Mario Kart World received 10 new courses from Super Mario Kart, as well as a free update for Star Fox.

It has been a whirlwind of a week for announcements, shock news, and game releases. September is only set to get busier, too, as we see some massive game releases such as Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and Silent Hill: Townfall release this month.

Update Patch News Roundup (30/09/2026)

For the final two weeks of September, there has been a lot happening in the gaming world. From a video game film actually doing well for once to yet more layoffs and studios preparing to close down, as well as Rockstar pulling more classic Rockstar nonsense because it can get away with it. Here is the last Update Patch of September!

Bill Skarsgård is Starring in Physint

After a lot of he said, she said and rumour mill reporting and information regarding potential discontent between Kojima and PlayStation surfacing and being touched on in the last Update Patch, more details about Hideo Kojima’s upcoming project, Physint, have finally begun to surface. The information was revealed during Xbox’s showcase at Tokyo Game Show, where Kojima himself gave small updates regarding the two IPs that Xbox will be publishing.

Kojima took to the (pre-recorded) stage to explain that Bill Skarsgård (IT, Barbarian, Nosferatu)  will play the lead in Physint, alongside talents such as Don Lee/Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan, The Eternals, The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil), Charlee Fraser (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Anyone But You) and Minami Hamabe (Godzilla Minus One, Shin Kamen Rider, Let Me Eat Your Pancreas).

The Last of Us Director Apologises to God of War Laufey Dev Team

In an incredibly ironic take, The Last of us director, Bruce Straley, has now issued an apology after saying that triple-A games are lacking in “innovative, fresh ideas.” He went on to include the God of War team in this, and then accused Edge Magazine of using the quote out of context for clickbait. He did make a fantastic point about companies wanting to recreate popular GaaS. Which, as we have seen throughout the years, seldom works well.

Yet, he didn’t apologise for the main crux of his statement, and didn’t really go on to further his explanation. He left triple-A game dev in 2017, and is working on Coven of the Chicken Foot.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation Has Estimated 200GB Download

The final installation of the Final Fantasy 7 remake is nearly upon us, and people are going to have to clear nearly all of their storage to make way for this beast of a game. Naoki Hamaguchi has warned in an interview with VGC that Final Fantasy VII Revelation has a whopping 200 GB download size. Even as someone who has a 1 TB SSD, that seems like a staggeringly high number. 

From the screenshots that have emerged, it does seem like there will be a lot of mini-game content and side quests to play through. Then there will also be the two additional DLCs, which will allow you to play as Vincent and Sephiroth respectively.

Typhoon Dujuan Forces Tokyo Gaming Show To Close Early

This Tokyo Gaming Show was set to be a big one, as it was going to be the first time the expo was going to run for a full five days, as this one was the 30th anniversary and the fifth and final day of the expo was going to fall on a national holiday (September 21). Unfortunately, that was dashed as Typhoon Dujuan forced the expo to close a day early.

This information was announced on X, where it made a decision to close the expo fully a day early to ensure the safety of all attendees. 

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Breaks Records

To hear of a video game film actually doing well is quite the shock. However, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has officially become the highest-rated video game film ever made, as well as breaking box office records. Most impressively, the film has already surpassed $150 million at the box office, making well over the budget it set out during production.

As a result of the film’s success, sales for the video games have also increased, with sales of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 remakes increasing by over 50%!

Marathon Is Struggling Because It Was Too Hard, Says Bungie

According to Bungie, the reason that Marathon didn’t perform well is that it was “too hard.” Del Chefe III stated that the game is for “sweaty people who like PvP,” as the game is marketed as an ultra-hardcore PvPvE extraction shooter. Because the hyper-specificities of the game made it hard to market to the standard gaming audience.

This was amongst many of the complaints by players when the game was released, with many feeling that it was too punishing, and the learning curve was too steep. Bungie has announced that there will be ‘radical changes’ coming to Marathon, including new ways to play the game and an extensive roadmap ahead, which has seen the team ditch its planned seasonal model to focus on larger updates, including PvP and PvE modes, and a shared social space, coming early next year.

Build A Rocket Boy Enters Administration

 Developer of the ill-fated Mindseye, Build A Rocket Boy, has officially appointed administrators after another devastating wave of layoffs. In a response to gamesindustry.biz, the company announced that Opus Advisory Group will be the appointing administrator.

As it stands, Build A Rocket Boy operated at a hefty £47.5 million loss in 2025 and owes its creditors a whopping total of £61.8 million to date. In the past year alone, BARB has gone through a lot. From its union expressing that redundancy was handled wrong, to allegations of illegal monitoring of employees, it has been a rough year for all involved.

Ubisoft Once Worked On a Zelda Game

Once upon a time, Ubisoft was reportedly working on a Zelda game. Ubisoft and Nintendo had a partnership to create  Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, but Ubisoft Milan decided to start working on a new game. 

Once codenamed Project Goliath, this game was meant to have Ganondorf as the star of the story. Ubisoft Milan reportedly worked on the game for over a year before Nintendo decided to scrap the project without stating its reasoning.

Grand Theft Auto VI Extortionate Collector’s Edition

Grand Theft Auto VI is undoubtedly the most highly anticipated game that the world has seen in a hot minute. Many have been eager to get their eyes and ears on any detail about the upcoming title from Rockstar. So much so that when the extended preview of the game was available on Netflix, the streaming service went down and back up again frequently during the whole event. It was so popular that it caused minor outages across social media platforms restreaming the content, including Twitch.

Fast forward to 24 September, when the Grand Theft Auto VI: The Goodtime State - Vice City Collection was announced. It includes a lot of typical collector’s edition items: Pins, a keychain, stickers, and a poster. It also features a pair of actual Ray-Ban sunglasses, a snapback hat, and… a swizzle spoon?

One thing this collector’s edition is missing? The game itself. All in all, if you want to get your hands on the collector’s edition for GTA VI, you’re going to be setting yourself back £400, not including the price of the game.

Reddit Mod To Pay 4.5 Million to Nintendo

A court in Washington has ordered that Reddit mod James “Archbox” Williams to pay Nintendo a whopping £3.4 million in damages due to alleged piracy. Williams was the main mod for r/SwitchPirates, and Nintendo managed to track all of his Reddit posts, which allowed the company to go for the throat. 

He was accused of “facilitating a network of unauthorised ‘shops’ that have offered to the public extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games to download.” In total, he had offered up 30 games to the public, which has now also landed him an injunction that bars him from distributing any pirated Nintendo games. 

While it was an option, Nintendo decided not to seek out compensation for DMCA charges or attorney fees.

Capcom Puts Ace Attorney in VR

Capcom has been on a roll lately, but this announcement is by far one of the most peculiar. While fans have been eager for more Ace Attorney, it was never expected to be in the form of a VR game. Set to release next year, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies VR is a remake of the 2013 title Dual Destinies. It adds a fun element by allowing players to do the infamous ‘Objection!’ with their own hands, as well as the ability to yell the catchphrase.

The title will be released on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro, and the upcoming Meta Glasses. Fans of Ace Attorney have been waiting a relatively long time for a new title, but a VR one is not what fans expected. Plus, VR headsets are pricey and not something that everyone can use for a plethora of reasons, including motion sickness being one of the top reasons. 

It is certainly a choice, Capcom.