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Krafton pledges to turn Subnautica into “franchise IP” after Subnautica 2 surpasses 5m sales in just 22 days
Krafton has announced plans to expand Subnautica into a full “franchise IP” after its sequel, Subnautica 2, surpassed 5 million sales within just 22 days of its early access launch. The milestone comes despite a turbulent year for developer Unknown Worlds, which saw a bitter legal dispute between Krafton and the studio’s ousted leadership over…
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Huge Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Patch Out Now Ahead of Tomorrow’s Major DLC Drop
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero has received a substantial update ahead of its Super Limit-Breaking NEO DLC, which launches on 30 July. The patch adds new content and reworks core mechanics, marking what publisher Bandai Namco describes as the biggest update yet for the fighting game since its October 2024 release, and sets the stage for…
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Blizzard’s former Battle.net lead is moving his expertise over to the Epic Games Store to ‘elevate player, creator, and developer experiences’
Martin Keely, Blizzard’s former senior vice-president overseeing Battle.net, has joined Epic Games as vice-president and general manager of the Epic Games Store and Epic Online Services. The appointment matters because Epic is seeking to strengthen its PC storefront and services as it competes with Steam, the market’s dominant platform. Keely had worked at Blizzard for…
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Xbox outage reignites debate over future of physical games
An Xbox network outage this week left many players unable to access disc-based games offline, reigniting industry-wide debate over the future of physical media just as Sony is reported to be planning to phase out disc-based releases. The disruption was notable because Microsoft has long assured customers that disc games are designed to work without…
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A Dragon Age Trilogy remaster probably won’t happen as no one still employed at BioWare knows how the engine works, claims producer
Former BioWare producer Mark Darrah has cast doubt on the prospect of a remastered Dragon Age trilogy, claiming that nobody currently at the studio understands the ageing Aurora engine used to build the original games. This matters because it highlights a broader risk of proprietary in-house technology: when staff leave or are laid off, as…
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Villagers are left with a ’roundabout to nowhere’ after developers ditch plans to build 300 new homes
Villagers in a UK village have been left with an unused roundabout after developers abandoned plans to build 300 new homes nearby, dubbing it a “roundabout to nowhere”. The junction was constructed as part of the infrastructure for the proposed housing development, but with the scheme now scrapped, residents say the road feature serves no…
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As AI content floods the internet, Pangram raises $9M to detect it
New York-based startup Pangram has raised $9 million to expand its AI content detection technology, betting that demand for tools distinguishing human-written from AI-generated material will keep growing as “AI slop” spreads across the internet. The funding round, led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Haystack, ScOp, Script Capital and Cadenza, coincides with the launch…
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Clair Obscur developers see Sony’s no-disk announcement as ‘a sad decision’, because they ‘like to go outside, buy a game, and come back home with it’
Developers of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have criticised Sony’s reported decision to move away from disc-based games, describing it as “sad”. They argue that physical releases still matter because buying a game in a shop is a valued part of the experience. The developers’ comments reflect wider concerns about ownership and choice as games become…
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Best Ethernet Switches: Fast, Reliable, and Secure
This Wired buying guide rounds up recommended Ethernet switches, which allow users to add extra wired ports to routers or mesh systems that often have limited built-in connectivity. Ethernet switches are useful for setting up a wired backhaul to boost Wi-Fi performance, connecting a TV to avoid buffering, or running a local Power over Ethernet…
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More Typos, Fewer Em Dashes: Writers Are Creating an Anti-AI ‘Literary Counterculture’
Writers are deliberately adopting an “anti-AI” prose style, favouring quirks, typos and idiosyncratic phrasing to distinguish their work from AI-generated text. The trend, spanning fiction, journalism and criticism, involves consciously avoiding hallmarks of LLM writing, such as em dashes, rule-of-three lists and passive constructions, as authors seek to reassure readers of their human authorship amid…