Writer, Gaming & Hardware
The games, consoles and handhelds worth your time, and plain talk when they aren't. Allergic to hype and pre-order marketing.
For the first time in memory, all three console makers raised prices in a single year: PlayStation, Xbox and now the Switch 2. The headlines blame tariffs, but the bigger culprit is stranger: AI data centers are buying up so much memory that the chips inside a console have surged in price. Here is what actually happened.
Video games are selling and being played more than ever, and the industry has spent 2026 shedding jobs anyway, at Ubisoft, Unity, Take-Two, Bungie and more, on top of the EA and Xbox moves we have covered. A GDC survey found more than a quarter of developers were laid off in the past two years. This is not a slump in demand. It is a structural correction, now sharpened by AI.
Another 379 jobs are going at the Elder Scrolls Online and Bethesda parent ZeniMax, part of Microsoft's wider Xbox cuts. What makes this round different is that many of those workers are unionized, and their union is answering with labor-board charges and nationwide rallies. It is the first real stress test of gaming's biggest union deal.
The maker of Battlefield, The Sims, Madden and EA Sports FC left the stock market on 4 August 2026 in the largest all-cash buyout of its kind. A sovereign wealth fund ended up with 93% of it, and $20 billion of debt came along for the ride. Here is what that actually means.
Half of 2026's heavy hitters have already landed, but the back half is stacked, and it ends with the biggest launch in entertainment history. Here is what is actually still on the way, what has slipped to 2027, and which dates you can trust.
Rockstar has locked GTA 6 to November 19, 2026, and the CEO says there will be no more delays. Here is every fact that traces back to Rockstar itself, the setting, the two leads, the regions, the price, cleanly separated from the rumors.
The Steam Deck used to be the easy, cheap answer. Then it jumped to $789. In 2026 the handheld you should buy genuinely depends on your budget, the games you play, and whether you want SteamOS or Windows. Here is the honest comparison.
The Spider-Man studio's brutal, blood-soaked take on Logan lands September 15, 2026, two months before GTA 6 and $10 cheaper. Here is every detail that traces back to Insomniac itself, cleanly separated from the fan theories.