Quick Hits

• Grand Theft Auto VI Netflix Exclusive: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says that if you aren't a Netflix subscriber, you definitely should be. An extended look at Grand Theft Auto VI is coming, and it will be exclusive to the streaming platform for six hours.
• Gears of War E-Day Beta Explodes: Gears of War: E-Day has only just kicked off the first stage of its open beta, and it has already blown past the franchise's all-time concurrent player records on Steam.
• Call of Duty Cracks Down: With Modern Warfare 4 launching in just a few months, Activision is promising "stronger" hardware bans for Call of Duty cheaters, complete with weekly progress updates.
• Pokémon TCG Pocket Stumbles: Pokémon TCG Pocket has lost nearly half of its players due to controversial game shortcomings, putting a massive hole in creator DeNA's recent financial results.
• Minecraft Update & Switch 2 Port: Mojang has released a new Bedrock Edition update featuring gameplay improvements and Switch fixes, ahead of Minecraft launching on the Switch 2 this October.

Pokémon & Nintendo

It has been a wildly busy day for Pokémon and Nintendo fans! Starting off, Nintendo Life revealed that Game Freak has dropped a nostalgic goldmine: a new video interview with Shigeru Ohmori showcasing incredibly early prototype footage for Pokémon Pokopia. The VGC podcast crew also chimed in, noting that this reveal has sparked conversations about the future of game trailers—specifically wondering if the recent GTA 6 Netflix reveal is the new industry standard.

In mobile news, Kotaku reported a pretty grim milestone: Pokémon TCG Pocket has lost nearly half of its player base. The report points to obvious shortcomings like pull rates and trading mechanics using hourglasses, which have put a serious dent in DeNA's financial results.

If you're looking to watch the original Pokémon animated series, IGN points out that it has officially arrived on Disney+—but there's a catch. Of the roughly 80 episodes that make up the Indigo League arc, only 27 are currently available to stream.

Over on the Nintendo hardware front, fans are still heavily dissecting the June Nintendo Direct. Nintendo Life asks the burning question: which developer is currently steering the ship for the highly anticipated Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake? We still only have a sliver of teaser footage and some vague names, leaving fans to speculate.

In other Switch and Switch 2 news, Square Enix dropped a stylish new trailer for Final Fantasy Resonance, an HD-2D turn-based RPG headed to both consoles, highlighting the Warrior of Light. We also got a full round-up of THQ Nordic's 2026 Showcase via Nintendo Life, which featured announcements for titles like Reanimal DLC and The Eternal Life of Goldman. Finally, Nintendo Life is hosting a special 40th Anniversary Box Art Brawl for the mainline Metroid entries—so don't forget to go vote for your favorite cover art!

Call of Duty

As we gear up for the launch of Modern Warfare 4 in a few months, Activision is making a massive push to clean up the lobbies. According to Destructoid, the publisher is promising "stronger" hardware bans in Call of Duty, committing to weekly updates to keep the community informed on their progress against cheaters. It's a highly necessary move, especially since Kotaku noted that Black Ops "quietly won the summer" despite the ongoing industry struggle with RAM shortages that have been pushing hardware prices to frustrating highs.

Indie Games

It’s been a weird and wild day in the indie scene. In a bizarre turn of events, Kotaku reported that Google’s AI somehow leaked an indie developer's private content plans. The dev was completely baffled to learn that the AI knew hidden details about their small Steam game that they had never even shared publicly online, pulling secrets directly from their own private Google Docs.

On the business side, Eurogamer brought the bittersweet news that indie publisher giant Devolver Digital is looking to go private. This move comes after a rather rough few years for the company as a publicly-traded entity. Here's hoping a return to private ownership lets them get back to funding the weirdest and best games in the industry!

Steam & PC

The PC gaming space is currently dominated by massive announcements and record-breaking numbers. Rock Paper Shotgun covered some fascinating comments from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who predicted that cloud streaming will eventually fix the industry's hardware pricing crisis, stating that "machines that weren't game machines before will become game machines." This aligns perfectly with the massive news from IGN: Take-Two is teasing Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look. This will hopefully give us our first proper gameplay reveal for GTA 6, but there is a twist—it will be exclusive to Netflix for six hours.

In actual game performance, Eurogamer reports that the Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer beta is already an absolute smash hit, shattering the franchise's previous records on Steam in just its first open stage.

Meanwhile, new PC releases are facing some familiar hurdles. PC Gamer highlighted that Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is seeing a mixed Steam rating right out of the gate. The 3D fighter is taking heavy fire for launch day performance issues and forced logins, with Linux users seemingly catching the brunt of the technical headaches.

Gaming Roundup

Outside of our main beats, GameSpot published a highly relevant piece asking a tough question about Sony’s recent moves: Who gets left behind in the all-digital future? With Sony dropping the announcement that it will be ending physical disc production for the PlayStation 5 in early 2028, many players on social media are lamenting the inevitable death of physical media.

For JRPG fans, Eurogamer confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation—the final chapter in the Remake trilogy—will be getting a "new look" at Gamescom's Opening Night Live.

Finally, in a wonderfully strange crossover of tech and geopolitics, PC Gamer reported that Japan has officially asked the US to stop using classic gaming mascots like Mario and Pokémon in official social media posts. Protecting those IP rights on a global scale is serious business!