Here’s a fun little fact to start your week: do you know where the word “news” comes from? If you answered “surely it’s just a plural form of ‘new’”, then you’re actually much closer than you might think.
Essentially, the word developed in the Middle Ages, and it referred to things that were developing; “new things”, or “news”. It’s a rare case of a word evolving in exactly the way you’d think it would.
Well, regardless of our little fun etymological diversion, we’ve still got a week in gaming news to look at, so let’s see what’s been happening in the gaming industry this week!
PC accessories company says GTA 6 is coming to PC in 2026
This week, the financial VP of PC accessories company Corsair pointed to a 2026 release for the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 on PC.
The game has yet to be confirmed for PC, but during a financial results presentation, Corsair’s Ronald van Veen said the game would “come out in the fall for console, and then early 2026 for PC”.
It’s possible van Veen didn’t realise the industry was hanging on whatever word it could possibly get for more GTA 6 news, but in any case, you can breathe a sigh of relief, PC gamers. It looks like it’s happening.
Nintendo will discontinue Gold Points on Switch
If you’ve used the Switch’s Gold Points system, then this one may come as disappointing news for you, but Nintendo is discontinuing its rewards scheme in March.
An official announcement on Nintendo’s website states that the programme will end on March 25th, but that you’ll still be able to use Gold Points you’ve accrued after this date.
Remember that Gold Points only remain valid for a year after you obtain them, though, so if you do have any Gold Points left to spend, it’s best to spend them quickly.
PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida says he had “no choice” but to oversee indies
Speaking to VentureBeat this week, Shuhei Yoshida, who recently left PlayStation after more than three decades with the company, discussed his career with Sony’s gaming division.
According to Yoshida, he took the position of overseeing Sony’s indies programme not because he wanted to, but because it was essentially that or leave the company.
It’s a fascinating interview that also includes lots of other details about Yoshida’s time with the company, so if you’re a PlayStation fan or simply a gaming history scholar, we’d recommend reading it.
Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs
Unfortunately, this week saw a sharp uptick in gaming industry layoffs as well, with several studios impacted by staff reductions across the board.
First, and perhaps most shocking, Marvel Rivals developer NetEase decided to close the Seattle wing working on the game and lay off its entire staff, despite the huge success of the game.
The week also saw layoffs at fellow NetEase-backed outfit Liquid Swords, as well as Oxenfree studio Night School. It remains a pretty precarious time to be working in the games industry.
Team Fortress 2 source code released for free
Valve released the source code for popular first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 this week, potentially opening the floodgates for fan-created mods and conversion games.
Speaking on Bluesky, Valve said that the release of the TF2 SDK contains “all of TF2’s client and server game code”, which the studio then invites players to use in order to “change, extend, or rewrite” the game.
If you’re a regular Team Fortress 2 player, this might not impact you too much, but if you like to get under the hood and tinker with games’ internals, then this is essentially a second Christmas for you.
Marvel Rivals hits a new player count record
NetEase announced this week that Marvel Rivals has managed to hit 40 million players, which is a new record for the free-to-play hero shooter.
We should bear in mind here that the company isn’t referring to active players, but rather simply to registered accounts, so it’s possible a huge chunk of that player base is no longer playing the game.
Still, 40 million registered users isn’t bad at all, and it really throws the company’s decision to close the development team responsible for the game into even starker relief.
Palworld reaches 32 million players
It isn’t just Marvel Rivals enjoying new player count records, either. Pocketpair’s Pokemon-inspired survival game Palworld also managed to reach a new milestone this week.
The game, according to Pocketpair, hit 32 million players just in time for what the studio seems to heavily imply is its first anniversary, although if that’s the case, then Pocketpair is an entire month out. Oops.
Again, it’s worth remembering here that Palworld is available on Game Pass, so this doesn’t represent sales; many players are probably enjoying the game with their Game Pass subscriptions, and Pocketpair is counting those players as part of this figure.
Tales of the Shire has been delayed once again
Cozy life simulator Tales of the Shire, which will allow you to live the life of a hobbit in the idyllic Shire, has been delayed once again, its developer and publisher announced this week.
Developer Weta Workshop says the game needs “a bit more simmering” in order to be the “warm hug from Middle-earth” that it’s intended to be.
As such, it’ll now be launching on July 29th instead of its previously-announced March release date, so if you’ve been waiting for a chance to immerse yourself in hobbit life, you’ll have to wait a bit longer, we’re afraid.
A mysterious countdown has appeared on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater site
If you’re hoping for more Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remasters, then you may well be in luck, as a mysterious countdown appeared on the franchise’s official website this week.
The countdown is ticking down to March 4th (using the US date format of month-day-year), where we will presumably hear about more games in the skating series getting the remaster treatment.
Our money’s on PS2 classics Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, and though we’d rather get the chance to play a remastered version of Underground, we’re still excited for that.
