WK41: Gears Returns, AI Starts Making Games & PAX Comes to Melbourne

Gears Returns, Xbox Keeps Restructuring. Gears of War: E-Day launched this week, taking Marcus and Dom back to the beginning of the Locust invasion. Reports of redundancies at Ninja Theory highlight the uncertainty facing Xbox studios even as major new games arrive.

Xbox Expands Beyond Games With XP. Microsoft has created XP, a new Xbox division taking its franchises into film, television, merchandise, partnerships and live experiences. Led by former Mojang president Kayleen Walters, it underlines Xbox’s ambition beyond consoles. The question is whether growing these franchises across entertainment can also strengthen the games at their centre.

Google Wants Everyone Making Games. Google launched Playground, an experimental platform for creating playable browser games from prompts, while Unity announced Spark. Removing technical barriers could make game creation easier, but making something worth playing is another challenge.

Indie Games Take the Spotlight at Triple-i. The Triple-i Initiative returned with a rapid-fire showcase of indie announcements, including Machinarium 2, a February 2027 release date for Among Us Story: On Guard and early access plans for Outward 2. With demos and playtests alongside the trailers, smaller developers are proving how effective a tightly focused showcase can be.

Star Wars Gets Back Behind the Wheel. Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched this week, bringing podracers, speeder bikes and aggressive arcade racing back to the galaxy. Its run based progression is the interesting twist, giving players a reason to keep racing beyond nostalgia.

Kingdom Hearts Gets Collected. Kingdom Hearts Collection [I～III] brings the sprawling series together for modern platforms, including Nintendo Switch 2. For Nintendo players, a native release is especially welcome after the previous cloud based editions.

The Crew Motorfest Hits Switch 2. Ubisoft's open world racer arrives on Nintendo Switch 2, bringing its Hawaiian festival of cars and competition to a portable platform. Cross progression is welcome, although existing players should check restrictions on transferring purchases.

Battlefield 6 Joins Game Pass. Xbox's October Game Pass update adds Battlefield 6, giving subscribers another major multiplayer shooter to jump into. It is another example of subscription libraries competing on the strength of recognisable blockbuster games.

Warner Bros. Games Faces a New Future. The Paramount and Skydance takeover of Warner Bros. places major gaming studios and franchises under new corporate ownership. What that means for future projects, budgets and creative independence remains an open question.

AMD Sets Its Sights on Handheld Upscaling. AMD says its AI-powered FSR 4 upscaling will expand to handheld gaming PCs, laptops and integrated graphics before the end of 2026. Better image quality and performance would be welcome on portable hardware, although support for existing devices, including Steam Deck, remains uncertain.

PAX Aus Starts Today. PAX Aus opens today at Melbourne's Convention and Exhibition Centre, bringing three days of playable games, hardware showcases, indie developers and community events. As major announcements increasingly happen online, getting together in person might be the weekend's biggest story.