Gaming

Battlefield 6 Player With Over 400 Hours Gets Full Refund from Steam After Key Modes Were Removed

• Player refunded 400+ hours after Battlefield 6 dropped Rush and other modes
• Steam granted refund outside its usual two-week policy
• Removed modes still exist but are hard to find via Portal browser

A Battlefield 6 player with over 400 hours of playtime received a full $110 refund from Steam after Battlefield Studios removed key game modes, including Rush, from the game's quick-play matchmaking. Steam typically only grants refunds within two weeks of purchase and minimal playtime, but Valve made an…

As GTA 6 anticipation builds and the games industry buckles, Take-Two boss says “I don’t love winning by attrition, but I’ll take it”

• Take-Two expects resilience to help it gain ground.
• GTA 6 remains central to its outlook.
• The industry faces continued closures and redundancies.

Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick said the publisher could benefit as weaker rivals struggle, describing this as “winning by attrition” despite saying he did not enjoy it. His remarks underline the company’s confidence ahead of Grand Theft Auto 6, one of the industry’s most anticipated releases, during a…

Indie Games Are Breaking Out–But It’s Still Tough Out There

Developer House House and publisher Panic announced today that their co-op multiplayer puzzle/exploration/goof-around game Big Walk has achieved huge sales success in just under a week. In a post on Bluesky, Panic announced that Big Walk has already passed over one million units in sales. For small development…

2,000 Fortnite Players Hired as Air Traffic Controllers by US Government

• US hired 2,000 gamers as air traffic controllers via a new scheme
• Fortnite skills cited as useful preparation for the job
• Critics warn pay instability and rushed training may undercut the fix

The US Department of Transportation has hired 2,000 people through a scheme that specifically recruited video gamers, particularly Fortnite players, to become air traffic controllers, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on 9 August. The initiative addresses a chronic shortage of controllers as flight numbers rise, a gap…

18 AAA games in 8 weeks: With the GTA 6 shadow looming, Gamescom suddenly feels like the most essential gaming event of 2026

• Gamescom is framed as crucial ahead of GTA 6.
• Eighteen AAA games are due within eight weeks.
• Publishers face fierce competition for attention.

GamesRadar argues that Gamescom’s Opening Night Live has become a particularly important event for the games industry in 2026, as a crowded release period precedes the expected arrival of Grand Theft Auto 6. The article suggests publishers may use Gamescom to secure attention for major titles before GTA…

3 Greatest Series to Binge on Netflix This Week

• Collider recommends three Netflix shows to binge this week
• My Life With the Walter Boys' third season is topping Netflix charts
• Baby Reindeer (2024), starring Richard Gadd, is highlighted as a must-watch

Collider has published its weekly recommendation list of three shows worth bingeing on Netflix, timed to coincide with the third season of the Western-inspired teen drama My Life With the Walter Boys, which returned last weekend and quickly topped Netflix's streaming charts following the earlier success of Ransom…

Xbox finally fixes bug that made it impossible to play physical games while exec promises “to improve reliability of our products”

• Xbox fixed a bug that blocked some disc games during an outage.
• The disruption lasted about 16 hours across several Xbox generations.
• Xbox pledged to improve reliability after ownership concerns.

Xbox has released a fix for a bug exposed by a recent service outage that stopped some users from playing disc-based games, despite physical copies normally being intended to work offline. The incident renewed concerns about game ownership and Xbox’s dependence on online systems, prompting the company’s technology…

Grand Theft Auto 5 averages more copies sold per year than most megahits manage in their entire lifetime, with a total of 230 million since 2013

• GTA 5 has sold about 230 million copies since 2013.
• Its yearly average tops most megahits' entire lifetime sales.
• The game keeps selling strongly over a decade after launch.

Grand Theft Auto 5 has sold roughly 230 million copies since its 2013 release, a figure that means its average annual sales outstrip the entire lifetime totals of most other blockbuster games. The milestone underscores the extraordinary and unusual staying power of Rockstar Games' title, which continues to…

‘The Witcher’ Officially Hit With Major Delay

• Witcher Season 5, the show's final run, has been delayed
• It was pulled from Netflix's 2026 promotional schedule
• Expected to now premiere sometime in 2027, unconfirmed by Netflix

Netflix's fantasy series *The Witcher* has reportedly been delayed, pushing back the premiere of its fifth and final season. The news follows a mixed reception for Season 4, which introduced Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt of Rivia after Henry Cavill's departure, and comes despite Season 5 having…

Battlefield 6 player claims to have received Steam refund after 470 hours due to surprise mode removal

• Player claims Steam refunded Battlefield 6 after 470 hours played.
• Refund reportedly followed the surprise removal of a game mode.
• Case is far outside Steam's usual two-hour refund limit.

A Battlefield 6 player says Steam approved a refund for the game despite having logged around 470 hours of playtime, after a mode they relied on was unexpectedly removed. Steam's standard refund policy normally only covers purchases made within two weeks and under two hours of play, so…