It's getting cold outside, soup is boiling in the kitchen, small lights filling my room, these are perfect condition to play Ocari... 'Queen's Domain'. I wish I could tell you what happend this week, something other than that I'm still sick but the only thing I did the whole week was playing Queen's Domain and I love it so much.

I don't know what it is, probably the Dark Souls 1 ahh level design or that there are basically secrets everywhere.

In case you missed it you can now also see the sources for the different news. Just tap or click on the news and 98% of the time there should be a link.

Stories of the week:

Silver Lake, PIF have held recent talks to buy gaming software provider Unity, sources say

Unity Is In $21.5 Billion Buyout Talks With Saudi Arabia's PIF

The buyout would increase the Saudi government's influence in gaming mere months after purchasing EA

KotakuAlicia Haddick

Also on Reuters

Nagoshi Studio shuts down

Nagoshi Studio officially dissolved as of October 31, according to Japanese government gazette - AUTOMATON WEST

Nagoshi Studio has officially dissolved on October 31, as revealed in the Japanese government's Official Gazette.

AUTOMATON WESTĐorđe P

Anthropic's Claude AI blocks video game cloning and reverse-engineering

Anthropic's Claude AI blocks video game cloning and reverse-engineering — sweeping new restrictions also hit legitimate developers and basic troubleshooting tasks

Many game developers are reporting Claude's refusal to work on their own projects.

Tom's HardwareBruno Ferreira

Gaming News Recap

Week 45 | October 30 - November 6, 2026 | Edition 195

This week's news categories: Xbox [08], PlayStation [06], Nintendo [10], Other News [24], Numbers [05], Cross-Media [01], Releases Infos [31].

Xbox

1. The French game union Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo accuses Microsoft of sabotaging Arkane and 'Blade'. A 19 month long hiring freeze artificially caused delay and additional cost.

   Source
2. According to Jason Schreier multiple biters are interested in Arkane Lyon including Ubisoft. Selling the studio to its management was also considered.
3. Game Pass 1^st wave November 2026:

   • Nov. 3^rd: 'Football Manager 27'
   • Nov. 4^th: 'Void/Breaker'
   • Nov. 5^th: 'Escape Academy 2', 'Escape Academy 2', and 'Escape Academy 2'
   • Nov. 10^th: 'Warhammer Survivors', and 'Tanuki: Pons Sommer'
   • Nov. 11^th: 'Hope in the City', and 'Hope in the City'
   • Nov. 12^th: 'John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando'
   • Nov. 17^th: 'Paw Patrol: Dino World'
   • Premium: 'Vampire Crawlers', and 'Aphelion'

   Source
4. 'The Elder Scrolls VI Sentinel' officially titled.
5. According to Jason Schreier, 'The Elder Scrolls VI Sentinel' is still more than 2 years away.
6. 'South of Midnight' director David Sears says he is thankful for Microsoft's support but if he had been running Xbox, he would not have fund the game. He left the company in 2025.

   Source
7. Former Xbox COO confirmed that she got fired but she says it's not correct that she got terminated for policy violations. She also implies that she wasn't treated fairly. I have serious concerns about how they were applied in my case

   Source
8. Xbox is rolling out a new Xbox PC app to Insiders today. They also have updates for cloud gaming apps and web experience.

   Source

PlayStation

1. Sony CFO Lin Tao says the development of the next PlayStation console is progressing as scheduled and is making solid progress.

   Source
2. PlayStation FY Report

   • PlayStation 5 shipped 97.9M.
   • 'Marvel's Wolverine' has sold 2.4M copies.
   • 'Ghost of Yotei' 3.3M
   • 127M Monthly Active Users.

   Source
3. Sony reportedly offers customers up to $400 if they trade in their PS5.

   Source
4. Shawn Layden said on the Trophy Room Podcast that Bloodborne 2 probably won't happen because the biggest difficulty is getting all the rights together. From Sony, FromSoft and Kadokawa. He also said the marketing departement was against the idea of a 'Ratchet & Clank' Remake.

   Trailer
5. Sony announced PlayStation Plus Perks. Free trials and savings on top of your PS Plus sub.

   Source
6. 'Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble' got a soft launch in a few countries but is now getting delisted and will be unavailable from 2027.

   Source

Nintendo

1. 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' Remake sheet music now available online.

   Source
2. Eight tracks from 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' Remake are now available on Nintendo Music. 

   Source
3. Nintendo FY Report

   • Nintendo Switch 2 26.35M
   • Switch 157.2M
   • 'Tomodachi Life Living the Dream' 8.81M
   • 'Rhythm Heaven Groove 2'.89M
   • 'Splatoon Raiders' 2.42
   • 'Star Fox' 1.17M
   • 'Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave' 1.34M
   • 'Pokémon Pokopia' 4M
   • 'Mario Kart World' 16.48M

   Source
4. A limited apple (the fruit not the overpriced company) event is coming to 'Pokémon Pokopia', runs from November 16^th to December 1^th.
5. Nintendo Ask the Developer Vol. 24: 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' Part 1-4 now available. 

   Source
6. Young Links tunic looked too neat, as though it had been machine-woven. So they changed it to something that looks like children living in the forest had made it themselves. Aonuma asked himself if younger staff understood the design behind OoT and thought it would be incredible valuable for the future. Do they truly understand just how significant The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was to the series as a whole? Aonuma let them change what they wanted. He said they should develop Ocarina of Time as they want and should change what they genuinely felt were necessary. They added fast travel (warp points) but realized they were missing out on the moments of discovery. So they killed it.
7. Google has a new 'The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time' themed easter egg if you click on the Mastersword at the bottom.
8. November 1^st is now Pikmin Day.

   Trailer
9. Starting December they will release Hello! Pikmin shorts from Nintendo Pictures every month. Two shorts this month.
10. Nintendo is not considering another Switch 2 price hike.

    Source

Other News

1. Hideo Kojima says AI lacks what makes the creative process fun. As an example he brings up model kits or Lego, the final product isn't the fun part, the building is the fun part.

   Source
2. After all these years the rumors have been proven true. You can recruit Lilith in 'Tales of Destiny'.

   Trailer
3. [Rumor] A clip surfaced, supposedly showing 'Persona 1' and maybe 'Persona 2' Remake footage. The game is called Persona: Be Your Mind.

   Source
4. 'Massive Effect: The BioWare Story' a documentary about Bioware has been in the works for two years. It will now also feature the sudden closure of the studio.

   Source
5. Rockstar released a wave of new 'GTA VI' screenshots. 

   Source
6. IGN Entertainment has appointed Alex Simmons as VP, Editorial and Group Editor-in-Chief to lead editorial across its portfolio. Wesley Yin-Poole overseeing IGN.

   Source
7. 'Stardew Valley' Update 1.7 will be the biggest update to date and launches in 2027.

   Source
8. Nintendo, Xbox, Ubisoft, EA, Google and Riot have adopted the tagging process created by the Accessible Games Initiative to make it easier to tell which games have specific accessibility features.

   Source
9. Tripwire's publishing arm Tripwire Presents is expanding to offer more support to indie devs.

   Source
10. 'Halo' composer Marty O'Donnell has lost his race for a seat in the US House of Representatives.

    Source
11. Following a significant increase in Steam store page and game build submissions in the last few months (thanks to AI), Valve is updating its Steam pre-release review procedures to cut down on re-reviews and help devs to pass it on the first try.

    Source
12. Itch.io got flooded with AI games and is now mass deleting them. They also added a new filter for users to filter out gen AI games.

    Source
13. A Prince of Persia fan is offering Ubisoft (Uno on the 360) $5M to finish 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' Remake.

    Source
14. Anthropic's Claude AI blocks video game cloning and reverse engineering.

    Source
15. Wholesome Snack Showcase set for December 5^th at 9AM PT (18 Uhr).
16. Benjamin McDaniel also known as Pilot Picasso is currently drawing 'GTA VI' art over Arkansas.

    Source
17. One in three game studios which got acquired since 2000 has been shut down.

    Source
18. Mob Entertainment has laid off 16 people from the 'Escape from Playtime' team.

    Source
19. Nexus Mods rules out a full AI ban despite community backlash.

    Source
20. 'Goddess of Victory: Nikke' PC launcher was compromised and has been injected with malware.

    Source
21. Saudi-backed Kingdom of Gaming event delayed to 2027.

    Source
22. Astragon is shutting down Astragon Development (formerly known as Independent Arts).

    Source
23. Nagoshi Studio was officially shut down on October 31^st after Netease has cut funding.

    Source
24. According to Reuters, EA owner Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund held recent talks to buy Unity.

    Source

Numbers

1. 'Queen's Domain' has sold 100K copies!
2. 'Control Resonant' has sold more than 1M copies and becomes Remedy Entertainment fastest selling game.

   Source
3. 'Phantom Blade Zero' has sold over 4M copies in 72h.
4. 'Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim' has sold 750K.
5. 'Date Everything!' has sold over 1M copies.

Cross-Media

1. Sonic is in Angry Birds 3.

   Trailer

Release Infos

1. 'Ultima' series now available on Steam. 

   Source
2. 'A Fool's Errand' now available on iOS incl. Apple Watch support. Already on Playdate.

   Source
3. 'Underkeep' is now available on PC. 

   Source
4. 'Selaco' Chapter 2: The Machines of War launches November 13^th!

   Source
5. 'Vital Shell 2' Steam page is up.

   Source
6. 'Apple Crumble' now launches on December 2^nd on PC!

   Source
7. 'Flask' launches January 14^th 2027 on PC.

   Trailer
8. 'Thief: The Dark Project Remastered' launches December 3^rd on Xbox One/Series, PS4/5, Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC.

   Source
9. 'Wonderfall' launches December 9^th on PC.

   Trailer
10. 'Let's Build a Zoo' DLC Amphibian Encounters launches on PC in 2027. A free update is also on the way.

    Trailer
11. 'CaTHaRSiS: The last of atelier' launches December 1^st on PC.

    Source
12. ArenaNet and co-dev studio 2Weeks have announced 'Guild Wars Afterlife', the first major update for 'Guild Wars Afterlife' in over 20 years. Launches January 13^th.

    Trailer
13. 'Console Archives Elevator Action' launches November 5^th on PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

    Trailer
14. 'Arcade Archives Exzisus' launches November 5^th on Xbox Series, PS4/5 and Nintendo Switch 1&2. 

    Trailer
15. Delicious in Dungeon × 'Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen' limited time crossover is now available. Launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 12^th. Runs until January 28^th.

    Trailer
16. 'WendyQuest: Legend of the Four Corner Stones' is now available for free on PC.

    Source
17. The 212GB pre-load for 'GTA VI' starts on Tuesday, November 10 at 12 am. GMT.

    Source
18. 'Tales of Tuscany' launches February 2^nd 2027 on Xbox Series, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Mobile and PC. 

    Trailer
19. 'Ova Magica' launches November 10^th on Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 1&2. Already on PC. 

    Trailer
20. 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: Arcade' announced for Xbox Series, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC. Crowdfunding campaign launches February 2027.

    Source
21. 'Derelikt' launches November 13^th on PS5 and PC.

    Trailer
22. 'PowerWash Simulator 2' Barbie Pack launches December 3^rd.

    Trailer
23. Studio Aurum (Monster Crown) announced a new roguelite, turn-based dungeon crawler called 'Channel 666 - Nightmare on Tape'.
24. 'Stip' launches January 20^th 2027 on PC!

    Trailer
25. 'Acornia: Mirror Worlds' launches Spring 2027 on Xbox Series, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

    Trailer
26. 'Ragnarok Console Project' is coming to Xbox Series, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC in 2027.

    Source Trailer
27. 'God of War Laufey' delayed to May 20^th 2027.
28. 'Stronghold 4' Early Access delayed to April 20^th 2027.

    Trailer
29. 'Nobunaga's Ambition: Hishou' has been delayed to an unspecified date to reconsider supported platforms. It's announced for PS5, Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC. 

    Source
30. 'Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold' expansion delayed to February 23^rd 2027.

    Source
31. 'Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard' and 'Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard' are getting delisted next month.

    Source Source

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ᴊᴏɪɴ ⁄⁄⋐ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏʀᴅ ꜱᴇʀᴠᴇʀ

Game of the Week:

Queen's Domain

Queen’s Domain is a retro-fantasy action RPG. Washed up on the shores of the Isle of Neasied, you set out to find your father and uncover the dark heart of this mysterious isle.

Wield the Legendary Holy Sword Endu to take flight from platform to platform, and discover an interconnected, labyrinthine world where secrets and dangers lurk around every corner.

Fight action-oriented battles with a classic stamina meter, powerful charge attacks, weapon specific special attacks, and secondary throwing weapons. Level up, accessorize, and choose from a huge catalogue of melee weapons on your quest to fight your way through the hordes of monsters and powerful bosses awaiting you in the darkest depths of the isle.

So that's all for this week.
Thank you so much for reading!

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I hope you have a nice weekend and see you next week!

Written by Knoebel & edited by viaz with the help of Fabi