The video game industry is currently undergoing a small but unprecedented wave of developer organizing. Last week it even reached the halls of famed RPG maker BioWare, where a group of QA contractors working on Dragon Age 4 revealed their intention to unionize. The two biggest reasons why? Bad pay and concerns over a…
We all know Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki loves poisoning players, but apparently there exists an inconspicuous wall in FromSoftware’s latest game that can inflict a toxic status effect just as well as any swamp.
Watching the news cycle around Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands for the past month has been like watching the news cycle of a game on fast-forward. You know how it goes: Game comes out. Gets positive reviews, fans praise it. DLC hits, is then slammed by fans. By now, it’s basically a framework. Only this time, the entire cycle…
When Sony combines PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in June, its new most expensive tier will be $18 a month and include time-limited game trials. But most games don’t currently have such demos. To fix that moving forward, Game Developer now reports Sony will require all developers of games at a wholesale cost…
Pokémon GO Fest 2022, the biggest event in the massive mobile game’s calendar, is confirmed for the 4th and 5th June this year. For the not-inconsiderable sum of $14.99, the weekend will include rotating habitats, Land Forme Shaymin, shiny debuts, and “customized special research,” where players can set their own…
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was released 19 years ago, and is one of the greatest multiplayer shooters ever to appear on the PC. Sadly, some younger readers may never have had the pleasure of playing it, as it had never been released on Steam. Until today!
With cosplay shows finally making a comeback not just in the US but internationally as well, we’re taking a trip overseas for Kotaku’s first ever look at Romics, a big convention that’s been running in the Italian capital for over 20 years now.
Back in February, Bethesda confirmed that it was shutting down its proprietary PC game launcher and would move affected games back to Steam. Now, as we get closer to the May 11 shutdown, Bethesda has started adding some of its classic games to Steam. Some are arriving on Valve’s digital storefront for the first time,…
Look, I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t have “give Fortnite props” on today’s to-do list. But if nothing else, I’m a purveyor of truth, and the truth is that the battle royale’s third Street Fighter collab looks surprisingly wonderful.
The studio behind Pokémon is moving to an optional four-day work week. Game Freak announced the new “progressive” work policy on Tuesday, citing a desire to give employees more flexibility. The move comes as other studios are implementing similar policies, and is at odds with fans’ perceptions of a studio constantly…
After years of bemusement, Niantic is finally overhauling Pokémon GO’s lackluster Mega Evolution systems, adding levels and bonuses to give players a reason to engage. This, they say, will make it easier to use the mightier monsters in the game, while adding more reasons to do so. It’s already rolled out in Australia…
Yesterday, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion dollars, and a lot of people in the video game industry are unhappy about it. Some are making Mastodon accounts, others are making jokes, while others are voicing their concerns about the Tesla founder taking over the platform. However, a sizable number of…
Ubisoft has turned off online services for 91 games, including Far Cry 2, Splinter Cell, Just Dance, and more across multiple console and PC platforms. These shutdowns have since been gathered together in one list by Ubisoft.
Sega plans to delist several classic Sonic re-releases due to their presence in the upcoming Sonic Origins, the Japanese developer announced via official press release this morning.
The revival of a beloved spinoff. A film adaptation (whose cast makes no sense at all). A mainline entry (that, against all odds, feels astonishingly fresh). Yes, it’s safe to say Borderlands is back, and having its biggest year in a long time.
Rockstar Games quietly patched Grand Theft Auto V on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, adding a handful of small but highly requested tweaks to the next-gen version of the nearly decade-old game. Players have also noticed new files added to the PC version of the game hinting that next-gen improvements will soon be available…
Oh, hello. I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Ashley, and I’m Kotaku’s newest staff writer, where I’ll be focusing on tips and guides. Didn’t you read the headline? It’s okay, I forgive you.
About four years ago, developer Hello Games launched “Next,” an enormous free update for galaxy-spanning adventure No Man’s Sky that added more danger, resources, and bizarre alien creatures to the game’s sprawling universe. Things like the nightmare-inducing double squid, with 16 arms of inappropriate anime power.…
The delineation between console generations is muddier than ever. Microsoft’s two next-gen machines, the Xbox Series X and the slightly lower-powered Xbox Series S, have been out for about a year and a half. In that time, you can count the number of true next-gen Xbox games on one hand. The rare qualifier: Shredders.
Any PC gamers among you, or even more serious Xbox owners (who have had this for years), will be familiar with technology called Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), a feature that allows for “a dynamic display refresh rate that can continuously and seamlessly vary on the fly.” That feature is coming to PS5 consoles later…
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has just posted a short statement on Twitter, saying that the upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated movie will no longer be released this year.
If you were blown away by the expensive Final Fantasy statue Square Enix unveiled over the weekend, you’re not alone: Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi couldn’t help but express his own shock at the more than $11,000 price tag.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) released a series of photos on Monday, reportedly showing the belongings of a group of “Nazi Assassins” who had been plotting to murder Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov. It is a very funny series of photos, for a number of reasons.
It’s no secret that many aspects of FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games are inspired by Kentaro Miura’s popular manga Berserk. In fact, Elden Ring already pays homage in many ways, right down to Blaidd the Half-Wolf’s uncanny likeness to Berserk protagonist Guts. Now, Elden Ring’s cycle of manga refs has come full circle…
Today, Blizzard announced that Diablo Immortal will be out on June 2 for iOS, Android, and PC. The PC version was a surprise as Blizzard had previously said that this new entry in the ARPG dungeon-crawlin’ franchise was built for mobile devices from the ground up. But according to the Warcraft developer, creating a…
Keywords Studios developers working in support of Dragon Age 4 maker BioWare are seeking to unionize. That’s according to an April 20 application filed with the Alberta Labor Relations Board. The staff is preparing for a union vote following recent labor organizing efforts at other game studios.
There’s no shortage of bizarre players to encounter in Elden Ring. From ”Will Smith” invading just to slap people to nightmarish multiplayer confrontations, the Lands Between is full of curious and strange discoveries. But I wasn’t expecting to stumble upon the most blasphemous run-in yet: a Redditor had a chance,…
Did you know that the “let’s go” voice clip in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was pulled from the 1960s Batman television series? I sure didn’t, and being confronted with this apparently well-known fact over the weekend sent me tumbling down a rabbit hole of video game sample usage.
Half-Life is widely considered one of the best video games ever made for a host of reasons. Among them, its intro is perhaps one of the most memorable video game openings of all time, a masterclass in establishing a game’s particular tone while also organically introducing you to its world. As Gordon Freeman, new…
After an astonishing 17 months since release, Microsoft’s latest generation of Xboxes is finally more easily available. As a result, the publisher is seeing its first good month for sales in a very long while, with the Xbox Series S and Series X bringing in more money in March than even Nintendo’s Switch.
Elden Ring is a colossal open-world game full of unique bosses, esoteric quests, and mysterious secrets. What would the Game Boy version of that play like? One fan is determined to find out.
It’s rare to see a video game developer publicly acknowledge crunch, let alone cite its avoidance as a reason for delays. On Friday, developer 343 Industries revealed the long-anticipated roadmap for Halo Infinite, replete with a number of pushed-back features alongside a frank acknowledgement that such decisions were…
Although the mobile gaming ecosystem is known for hosting live-service games that monetize more aggressively than standalone console games, there’s no shortage of creators making mobile games that don’t call for constant updates. Now, some indie developers are finding out what can happen when you put your finished…
Springtime is upon us once again, and much like the sprouting of cherry blossoms, new anime are cropping up all over the pace.
The digital storefront GOG, formerly known as Good Old Games, recently announced that it will offer its employees menstrual leave, allowing anyone suffering from excessive period pain or other complications extra time off. It makes the studio one of the first companies in the games industry to offer such a benefit to…
Private equity firms could be beginning to circle over Ubisoft, Bloomberg reported Friday. Talks are early, but include interest from firms like Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. Even if it’s not private equity, senior current and former Ubisoft developers Kotaku has spoken with in recent months believe the company will…
Last year, Dr. Dre headlined GTA Online’s most recent update, The Contract. However, it took some convincing to actually get him to appear digitally in-game. According to a new interview, he initially declined because he didn’t really know much about GTA and thought it was “for kids.”
