Eurogamer

The Sims 5 looks set to be free-to-play, going by a description of the game as "free to enter" by EA spotted on a job listing seen on the publisher's careers website.

EA has since removed the advert from its website - though not before it was spotted by Sims fans. (You can still see it now thanks to the Wayback Machine.)

The listing, first spotted by fans on Sims Community, described a Head of Monetisation and Marketplace for Maxis' "newest entry to The Sims franchise (code named Project Rene)".

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Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson has announced a range of major shifts coming to the Football Manager series, dubbed "one of the biggest changes in our history."

In an extensive developer blog, Jacobson apologised for the relative lack of new features in FM23, announced save game transfers coming in FM24, and the long-awaited arrival of women's football in FM25 - first announced back in 2021. Alongside all that is a shift from the studio's own in-house game development engine to the ubiquitous Unity.

All this makes this year's FM24 a "closing of this chapter in our history", Jacobson said, with a major revamp of everything from graphics, to UI, to underlying systems coming next year in FM25 - something Jacobson said will be, "for the first time in decades, a true sequel."

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Bloober Team is moving on from the psychological horror games it is known for, with the recent Layers of Fear remaster being its last game of the genre.

That said, it's still sticking with horror. Instead, Bloober is now making "mass-market horror".

What does that mean? Bloober says it will result in a renewed focus on gameplay over atmosphere, owing to its games being described as "walking simulators".

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Cassette Beasts developer Bytten Studios held a showcase yesterday discuss the future of its spin on the Pokémon-like monster battler formula.

As well as sharing details on update 1.2, which is now live, Bytten also announced features in development and new merchandise, including a multiplayer offering, an expansion DLC, and plushies.

Update 1.2, called Catacombs, adds a new hidden location, three alternate remastered forms of existing monsters, four brand new monsters, a secret unique monster, and 10 new moves.

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I've got good news! We're letting everyone have a month of being a Eurogamer Supporter for free. Think of it as a free trial, if you like. And it can start today, if you want it to.

We're doing it because we want to show off what we offer. We want you to experience the site without adverts and all that peaceful white space you'll suddenly see. We want you to read Emma's memorable adventures she writes each month for supporters (and there's a new one arriving today). We want you to get involved in the weekly discussions around Five of the Best, and to snuggle up for Donlan's weekly thoughts in Game of the Week, which are usually about much more than the game of the week itself.

You'll also be able to listen to the Inside Eurogamer podcast, which is a new monthly show for subs. There have only been a couple of episodes but the first one - the one where we hear from new editor-in-chief Tom Phillips about his vision for Eurogamer going forward, and about why we moved to a five-star rating system - will probably be of interest to you.

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Sony has had its exhibits pulled from court after failing to properly redact financial information.

As part of the ongoing Microsoft vs FTC court case, Sony provided documentation detailing confidential information about its PlayStation business. As is custom, key details in this documentation were redacted. At least, they were meant to be.

Thanks to the retrospectively poor choice of using a Sharpie marker to redact the key information, it's easy to see the contents of these redactions now the document has been scanned.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said he'd love to get rid of console exclusives.

Nadella took to the witness stand during yesterday's court proceedings for the Xbox FTC hearing, and stated he has "no love" for the world of exclusives, reported IGN.

"If it was up to me, I would love to get rid of the entire sort of exclusives on consoles, but that's not up to me to define," said Nadella.

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Yager, the developer behind the likes of Spec Ops: The Line and Dreadnought, has announced its free-to-play PvPvE extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier will be shutting down on 27th September, saying the game is not "financially viable".

The Cycle: Frontier, which arrived on PC last June, sees teams of players - in the role of Prospectors - airdropping onto a hostile alien planet in order to gather resources, fend off predators and competing teams with a steadily expanding arsenal, then whizz back into space at the end with all their hard-earned spoils.

The game has seen three seasons of updates since its launch last summer, but Yager has now announced development is coming to an end, with its most recent patch being its last.

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As part of Microsoft's court battle with US antitrust agency the Federal Trade Commission, emails between Xbox boss Phil Spencer and PlayStation head Jim Ryan have been revealed, outlining Microsoft's initial proposal to Sony - regarding the Activision Blizzard games it would be willing to keep on the PlayStation platform should its $69bn acquisition be approved - and Ryan's lengthy counter-proposal.

As confirmed by Phil Spencer last September, Microsoft contacted Sony shortly after the January announcement of its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, providing a signed agreement to Sony guaranteeing Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation - with feature and content parity - for "at least several more years beyond" Sony current contract.

During his FTC deposition this week, Ryan admitted he "wasn't particularly" happy with Microsoft's original proposal, but "hoped it was an opening salvo" - and we now have a more precise picture of his initial response, thanks to newly revealed emails, as spotted by The Verge's Tom Warren. In a reply dated 26th May, Ryan informed Spencer that Microsoft's proposal "did not fulfil" the objective of "ensuring Activision Blizzard games are available on PlayStation", and that the company had "serious concerns" which an enclosed counter-proposal from Sony was intended to address.

UPDATE 29TH JUNE: The full list of winners for the Green Game Jam are as follows:

ORIGINAL STORY 28TH JUNE: This year's Green Game Jam has just wrapped, and as with last year, I was asked to judge the Media's Choice part of it. If you don't know what it is, the Green Game Jam is an annual event organised by the Playing for the Planet Alliance - itself organised by the United Nations Environment Programme - that challenges game developers to make 'activations' for their games. These are packages of content both in and around the games based on a theme.

The theme this year was conserving wildlife and biodiversity, with a particular eye on the snow leopard and the Himalayas, the manta ray and the Western Indian Ocean and the harlequin toad and the Amazon. And as always, the sentiment fuelling the jam was how much can a game teach us about a problem while having some kind of impact on the real world too?

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Microsoft considered launching a bid to buy Final Fantasy maker Square Enix, freshly-uncovered court documents have revealed.

The idea was floated among Xbox top brass back in 2019 - before Square Enix sold its suite of Western studios, and before Microsoft got entangled in its current attempted $68.7bn Activision Blizzard buyout.

Documents showing Microsoft's interest in acquiring Square Enix surfaced today, as the company continues to plead its case with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Final Fantasy 16 has sold 3m copies worldwide in under a week.

The news was shared on the official Twitter account for the game, noting this includes both physical and digital sales.

It's a strong start for the game - the first new mainline single player game in the series for seven years - but how does it compare to other releases in the series?

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A recent update to 2D fighting game Skullgirls has removed allusions to real-world hate groups, made its content less sexually "exploitative" and added some adjustments to content the developer believed to be in "poor taste".

The result? An influx of negative Steam reviews blasting the team for its decision.

As spotted by PC Gamer, while Skullgirls' overall Steam rating remains "Very Positive," its recent review average is now noted as being "Mostly Negative".

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UPDATE 4.45pm UK: Sony has now officially confirmed the leaked line-up of games headed to PlayStation Plus in July, including Alan Wake and Call of Duty. Read on for more details.

ORIGINAL STORY 12:40pm UK: July's PlayStation Plus Essential games have leaked early and will include Alan Wake Remastered and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

That's according to a reliable leak on DealLabs, stating the games will be available from 4th July - 1st August across both PS4 and PS5.

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PlayStation head Jim Ryan has admitted that, while he does not like Starfield being an Xbox console exclusive, he doesn't consider it to be anti-competitive.

Microsoft's court battle with US antitrust agency the FTC continued last night, with testimony from Ryan. During a pre-recorded video regarding Microsoft's ongoing bid to purchase Activision Blizzard, the exec shared further insight on the takeover, and the impact it could have on Sony.

When asked directly if he had any issues with Redfall or Starfield being exclusive, Ryan replied: "I don't like it but it's not anti-competitive" (thanks, IGN)

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Notorious Souls modder Lance McDonland has got Bloodborne running at 60fps on a PlayStation 5 without upscaling.

McDonald has been busy getting the game running at 60fps for some time - a video from 2020 shows the game at 60fps on a PS4 Pro. Digital Foundry tested their own PS5 version with AI upscaling you can watch below.

McDonald's new video has the game running natively on a PS5 at 1080p, without upscaling or interpolation. In McDonald's words, it's "just raw gameplay capture".

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Pokémon Go developer Niantic has infuriated fans by reverting a positive change to the game's spawn radius that let you see Pokémon spawns from twice as far away.

The change went live earlier this week and was praised by players. But, last night, Niantic announced via Twitter that the buff would be removed.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that the game's community leaders - who are regularly fed information by Niantic - were allegedly told the game was working "as intended" with the spawn change applied.

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Four Mega Drive games have joined Nintendo's Switch Online service, including two Zelda-like adventures.

The first is Landstalker, an isometric adventure developed by Climax Entertainment and released in 1993 in which players take the role of treasure hunter Nigel (no, really). Many of the team went on to develop Alundra for the PlayStation, considered something of a spiritual successor to Landstalker.

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Blizzard has released its latest patch update for Diablo 4, which will make Nightmare dungeons easier to grind.

Experience rewards have been buffed for Nightmare Dungeons - specifically increasing the experience for both killing monsters in these dungeons and completing them - making them well suited for high level players looking to grind.

Helltide chests will also provide "substantially more bonus experience when opened", and Whispers have similarly had a significant increase in rewarded experience.

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Sony has detailed the latest batch of games set to leave the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium game catalogue - and there's some big names in the list.

Brilliant post-apocatalyptic feline simulator Stray is among those getting the chop - just ahead of publisher Annapurna Interactive's upcoming digital showcase event, where we may see an Xbox version of the game.

Live-service game flop Marvel's Avengers is also being removed, although the game itself will still be playable if you pay and gets its final update in September.

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Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series about highlighting some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also a series about you having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

Pubs or taverns or inns - whatever you call them, they're the heart of so many gaming adventures. Be they sci-fi pubs or fantasy taverns, or modern day boozers, they're the gathering point for local communities. And if you're looking for a way into those local communities, as you often are in a game, there's rarely a better place to start.

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With only a few months between its announcement and 19th September release date, Mortal Kombat 1 feels like a masterclass in how to reveal a new game. This past weekend only reinforced that fact with the release of the game's first network stress test, giving gamers around the world the chance to try out the latest in Mortal Kombat. I joined the test on Series X and Series S and have some thoughts on how MK1 is shaping up, from early resolution and performance numbers to more subjective impressions of the graphics and technology that power the game.

What makes this release particularly interesting is developer NetherRealm's decision to move to Unreal Engine 4 - rather than sticking with their own UE3-derived tech or jumping to the more advanced Unreal Engine 5.

When you first boot the game, you're greeted by a gorgeous native 4K background with crisp menu elements, with two modes (an offline four fight ladder and an online mode) and seven characters available for the stress test. Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kenshi and Kitana are the four main options, with three Kameo characters: Kano, Sonya Blade and the cigar chomping Jax.

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Following the news that development of BioWare's free-to-play MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic would be shifting to a third-party studio, BioWare general manager Gary McKay has now confirmed some team members will lose their jobs as a result of the move.

Writing on the BioWare website, McKay explained that "most of the current team will be invited to accompany" Star Wars: The Old Republic as its development switches over to Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot studio Broadsword Online Games - a move EA previously said was necessary so BioWare could focus on its new Mass Effect and Dragon Age titles.

"Unfortunately," McKay continued, "not every role will make the move. This is the hardest part of this transition, and these decisions were not made lightly."

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The Sims 5 - or Project Rene, as EA is currently calling - is still some considerable way from release, but that isn't stopping developer Maxis from showing off its early experiments exploring what this "next generation" Sims game could be - and the studio has now shared a little more as part of its latest Sims stream.

When Project Rene was officially unveiled in October last year, EA teased a game built on a foundation of "charming sims, powerful tools, and meaningful stories" that would be designed with real-time collaboration in mind (solo play is still supported) and be simultaneously playable across a range of devices, including mobile and PC.

At the time, footage was limited to some expanded creativity tools inspired by The Sims 3's Create a Style options, but Project Rene's latest airing in EA's new Behind the Sims showcase (which also had a lot to say about horses) has gone into a little more detail about what The Sims 5 might look like if Maxis' current experiments prove fruitful.

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Apple has announced a new batch of titles heading to its Apple Arcade subscription service in July, including two particularly notable oldies-but-goodies: Stardew Valley and Slay the Spire, which both arrive in '+' form, denoting they were previously available on the iOS App Store.

Stardew Valley+, as if it needs an introduction, is developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone's wildly popular spin on the farm life sim genre, having now sold over 20m copies since its launch in 2016. Apple Arcade subscribers will have the opportunity to succumb to its endearing blend of agricultural wealth accumulation and pixel wooing from 28th July.

As for Slay the Spire+, it's also a bit of a modern classic. Developer Mega Crit Games' roguelike deck-building dungeon-crawler - which sees players attempting to fend off monsters and scale the titular spire with nothing but a fist of battle-ready cards - is a wonderfully refined, richly rewarding experience, and well worth seeking out.

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Among Us, the popular sci-fi social deduction game from developer Innersloth, is being turned into an animated series by CBS Studios.

As reported by Variety, the new series - which is being handled by Big Mouth and Star: Trek Lower Decks animation studio Titmouse - looks to be adhering closely to the core murder-and-deduction premise of its video game source material.

The show's official longline reads, "Members of your crew have been replaced by an alien shapeshifter intent on causing confusion, sabotaging the ship, and killing everyone. Root out the 'Impostor' or fall victim to its murderous designs."

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Air Twister, the on-rails 3D shooter and Space Harrier spiritual successor from legendary Sega designer Yu Suzuki is heading to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch on 10th November this year.

Air Twister, which launched for Apple's Apple Arcade subscription service last June, sees players battling alien invaders through 12 stages - and across various modes including Arcade, Turbo, and Boss Rush - to save a planet from destruction using their trusty homing arrows.

The ensuing action is a bit Space Harrier and a bit Panzer Dragoon - at certain points players take to the skies on the back of a giant swan - and Yu Suzuki has previously said Air Twister was inspired by a fantasy shooting game he envisaged in the 80s, before pivoting toward Space Harrier due to the technical limitations of the time.

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Cyberpunk 2077's launch was "way better than it was received" but "it became a cool thing not to like it", a CD Projekt exec has claimed.

VP of PR and communication Michał Platkow-Gilewski made the comment to GamesIndustry.biz while reflecting on the launch of the game.

"I actually believe Cyberpunk on launch was way better than it was received, and even the first reviews were positive," he said.

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It took me a long time to realise that Sludge Life 2 is a diorama. And, wait! So was the first game! These sun-faded, intricate, often queasy worlds that you scramble your way through, part puzzle, part gymnasium, part treasure hunt, these worlds that see you jumping, climbing, leaving a sheen of spraypaint behind you? The only thing that really moves inside these worlds is the player. Yes, there are a handful of very slight exceptions to this, but they're rare and also spoilers, things you'd want to find for yourself. For the most part, Sludge Life 2, like Sludge Life before it, is a single moment captured in all its brisk human complexity. It's a place, but it's often also an instant in time. We're just jumping around and tagging walls inside it.

It was hard to see this at first, I think, because for all their stillness, the Sludge Life games are simultaneously defined by a frantic sense of movement. There's the stripped-back first-person parkour at the heart of it, obviously, which turns each building into a climbing frame of ledges and pipes and mini-roofs. But there's also that fisheye viewpoint that frames everything, complete with videotape artifacting and strobing noise. It makes your surroundings seem fidgety, liquid and mobile. You shift a millimetre and the world squirms to show you the new perspective. The walls are alive. It all feels weirdly intestinal, the first-person game camera as a form of peristalsis. How are we headed into this halted world? We're riding an endoscope. Open up! Say ahhh!

Scavengers Studio, the developer behind Season, has laid off over half its staff as it seeks to downsize.

Only 16 employees remain, due to Season performing lower than expected commercially.

News of the layoffs surfaced earlier this month, but GamesIndustry.biz has since received the all-staff announcement from CEO Amélie Lamarche in full.

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A fresh first-party Nintendo Switch exclusive arrives in just a couple of days, though you'd be forgiven for being unaware. Announced only at the start of this month - and at the time, without so much as a trailer or a screenshot - the sudden unveiling and seemingly quick turnaround for Everybody 1-2 Switch! raised eyebrows. Stranger still, Nintendo chose to make no mention of it at all in last week's Nintendo Direct.

All of this only added fuel to the fire of persistent pre-announcement rumours that the game, a follow-up to Switch launch title 1-2 Switch!, had been floating around Nintendo HQ for a while and, frankly, was not very good. Leaks of this kind from behind Nintendo's doors are rare, but the nature of the game's announcement, its bargain bin £25 price point, and its imminent release have all done nothing to contradict that narrative, when compared to other games given more of a spotlight. So how is it, really?

Well, it's alright. I was given a two-hour hands-on session in London last week with a gaggle of other games media, to try out some of the title's multiplayer party mini-games as a group. The pitch we were given was good, actually: that this was designed for social gatherings where you may not be with people who feel natural holding a game controller, or for when you have more people who want to play than you have controllers themselves. Goodness knows, extra Joy-Con are not cheap, especially to pick up when they may only be used when friends or family are visiting.

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Alan Wake 2 arrives this October more than than 13 years after Remedy's original game, and after a number of false starts at getting the sequel made.

Much of developer Remedy's original pitch for the sequel eventually worked its way into Alan Wake's American Nightmare, the action-heavy 2012 standalone spinoff which, while not unanimously loved by critics, went on to be one of the cult hits of the old Xbox Live Arcade days.

Remedy has continued to work on ideas for a full sequel ever since, through the period where it released Quantum Break - the Xbox One exclusive that mixed time-bending action and shooting with live-action TV episodes - and then the fellow "Remedy connected universe" entry Control.

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Ubisoft has detailed the accessibility options included in forthcoming side-scrolling Metroidvania Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

In particular, the game will include The Eye of the Wanderer, which will allow players to pin screenshots to the map to help with exploration.

"The genre is quite dependent on being able to 'take mental notes'; remembering and visualising things like blocked paths, or situations that need tools or powers that you don't have," said senior game designer Rémi Boutin.

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Upcoming space horror Fort Solis, which stars Red Dead Redemption 2's Roger Clark and The Last of Us' Troy Baker, will release across PlayStation 5 and PC on 22nd August.

Clark portrays Jack Leary, an engineer who responds to a maintenance request on an isolated mining base on Mars.

"With storm warnings imminent [Leary] heads inside to make contact. As the night grows longer, events escalate, spiral out of control and the mystery of what happened to the crew begins to reveal itself. The storms arrive, limiting Jack's escape as he looks to hold out until morning arrives," reads Fort Solis' game description on Steam.

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The transition from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth's Geralt in Netflix's The Witcher show will be "flawless", and draw on a "meta" explanation inspired by the series' original books.

That's according to the series' executive producer Tomek Baginski, who has discussed the upcoming third season of the show - the last to star Henry Cavill as the protagonist - in an interview with Yahoo News, where the shift to Hemsworth for future seasons was mentioned.

Story spoilers for The Witcher book series and games follow.

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It looks like Hitman developer IO Interactive's upcoming online fantasy RPG will be an Xbox console exclusive.

Earlier this year, the Hitman developer announced it was working on a "bold" new franchise. Very little else was shared, other than a tease it would feel both familiar and "unlike anything" the studio had done before. No platforms, or even a project name, were announced at this time.

However, evidence submitted in the ongoing FTC vs Microsoft trial suggests this upcoming release - known (for now) as Project Dragon - will seemingly be an Xbox console exclusive.

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PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe will launch for PC, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch on 27th July, developer Q-Games has announced.

Previously available on iPhone via Apple Arcade subscription (though now discontinued), this beefed-up version of Q-Games' side-scrolling beat 'em-up sees you playing as a team of robotic rubbish collectors.

You'll need to use a selection of smart robo-abilities to eliminate anyone in your way as you clean up the streets of Junktown - which, judging by its name, sounds like a big job.

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Microsoft had intended to "spend Sony out of business", Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty wrote in an email dated from 2019.

The email, sent to Xbox exec Tim Stuart, has publicly surfaced now during Microsoft's ongoing courtroom battle with the US Federal Trade Commission over its proposed $68.7bn Activision Blizzard buyout. In it, Booty encourages Xbox to make further acquisitions to bolster Game Pass and compete with Sony.

"We (Microsoft) are in a very unique position to be able to go spend Sony out of business," Booty wrote, in reference to planned spending of spending $2-3bn in 2020 to avoid competitors getting ahead.

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Microsoft's promise it would keep Call of Duty on rival console platforms after buying Activision Blizzard prompted concern within Bethesda at its highest levels, a newly-published email now shows.

Bethesda marketing exec Pete Hines emailed bosses, including Todd Howard, to highlight the approach Microsoft was taking with Activision in order to court regulatory approval and note that it was "the opposite" of what Bethesda itself had just been "asked (told) to do" with its own games.

The email, dated 2nd October last year, expresses concern that Bethesda would be publicly questioned on why games like Starfield are Xbox-only following Microsoft's acquisition, as opposed to future incarnations of Call of Duty after Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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As Microsoft's court battle with US antitrust agency the FTC rumbles on, more and more juicy snippets of behind-closed-doors business doings are beginning to surface via released internal documents, and today's minor revelation comes via the news that Microsoft reportedly gave serious consideration to buying Sega - and other companies including Bungie and IO Interactive - to help it accelerate Xbox Game Pass.

This little bit of what-might-have-been comes via internal Microsoft documents spotted by The Verge, beginning with an email from Xbox boss Phil Spencer to CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, requesting strategy approval to approach Sega Sammy about a potential acquisition of its Sega games division.

Spencer suggested Sega's "well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with global geographic appeal" would help Microsoft "accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console", and that Sega's "beloved IP" would be particularly effective in helping Games Pass reach new audiences in Asia, "where localised content is critical to success".

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