Latest gaming announcements, leaks, and stories
Bandai Namco's story trailer for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve confirms the return of Annihilation Battle, a mission type where you choose your own targets, resupply mid-sortie, and set off chain reactions. Producer Manabu Shimomoto calls it the purest expression of the series, and the trailer names two new superweapons ahead of the October 2 launch.
Modder Speclizer has cancelled a multiplayer mod for The Last of Us Part II on PC after receiving a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The project had reached working 4v4 matches with matchmaking, loadouts, maps and leaderboards.
Akihiro Hino has confirmed that generative AI was used in Level-5 Vision 2026 II, the showcase that announced a remake of Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and apologised. He says scenarios, character designs and world-building remain entirely human-made.
Blizzard announced World of Warcraft: Forever at BlizzCon 2026 - a re-imagined vanilla Azeroth with over 1,000 new quests, nine dungeons, two raids, three new zones including a playable Mount Hyjal, and a brand-new Skyborne race. It launches 4 November 2026, beta opens 17 September, and it is included with a standard subscription. Warcraft III Reforged also got its first new campaign in twenty years.
Blizzard announced a new StarCraft at BlizzCon 2026 - a story-driven open-world shooter targeting 2030, led by former Far Cry lead producer Dan Hay. The reveal was a fully cinematic trailer following a Dominion Marine named Holt from training to a Zergling ambush, with no gameplay, no platforms beyond PC, and no word on the RTS side of the series.
Blizzard announced Diablo V at BlizzCon 2026 for spring 2029, and the premise is that the heroes already lost - Diablo has ruled Sanctuary for seven years and turned Westmarch into an outpost of Hell. Towns are replaced by a travelling caravan, the Plague Knight joins Demon Hunter and Monk, and Diablo II-style Runewords and stat requirements are back. Diablo IV hits Switch 2 on 15 September alongside Season of Hell's Legacy.
Days after a mass Steam achievements leak surfaced the name, Nightdive Studios has officially confirmed The Tarnished Mirror, a new campaign for Thief: The Dark Project Remastered. The full reveal lands 2 November; the teaser opens by admitting the secret is already out.
Naoki Hamaguchi has confirmed that Kingdom Hearts IV is being made inside Creative Studio 1, the same Square Enix studio he runs and that is building Final Fantasy VII Revelation. Tetsuya Nomura still directs KH4 - but both of the company's 2027 tentpoles now ship out of one org.
Bulkhead's 100-player three-team shooter Wardogs has passed one million copies sold and 350,000 concurrent players within hours of its Steam early access launch, after a marketing run that included a trailer called '10 Reasons NOT to Buy' and refund offers to unhappy beta testers. PS5 and Xbox versions are not due until 2028.
Seattle studio Polyarc, the team behind the Moss series and its flat-screen reissue Moss: The Forgotten Relic, announced its closure on September 11, 2026. Twenty-nine staff are affected, including all three Bungie-veteran co-founders, just eight weeks after the studio's final game shipped.
Remedy has detailed Control Resonant's Assist Mode ahead of the September 24, 2026 launch: eleven individually tunable combat variables, toggleable mid-game, with presets - and unlike the original Control, every slider can be pushed to make the game harder as well as easier.
Type-Moon, French-Bread and Aniplex have dated Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina for April 22, 2027 across PS5, PS4, Switch 2, Switch, Xbox One and Steam. The release-date trailer confirms White Len, a new Gauntlet mechanic, a Kinoko Nasu story mode, and a beginner-friendly one-button Act control scheme.