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You're reading This Week in Videogames, getting concise updates on the week's big stories, announcements, and new releases, without ads or filler content.
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| The Facts: Ubisoft has announced a “major organizational, operational and portfolio reset” for the company. It includes the cancellation of six games, as well as delays to seven more. Cancelled projects include the previously announced remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, as well as “four unannounced titles, including three new IPs and a mobile title.” Ubisoft said the titles did not meet the company’s new bar for quality as it prioritises its portfolio. Delays to seven additional projects were given to “ensure enhanced quality benchmarks are fully met.” One was a title previously slated for release before March 2026. The reset includes previously announced closures of Ubisoft Halifax, as well as layoffs at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, RedLynx, and Massive Entertainment. The company also confirmed the closure of Ubisoft Stockholm, and suggested more still to come. Core to Ubisoft’s new strategy is its company-wide reorganisation into five separate “Creative Houses,” which it announced last year. The first of these was announced as Vantage Studios, which will look after Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six Siege, and attracted US $1.3 billion in investment from Tencent. Another Creative House will look after competitive and cooperative shooter properties (The Division, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell) and another live-service experiences (For Honor, The Crew, Riders Republic, Brawlhalla, Skull & Bones). Fantasy and narrative-driven games (Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman, Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil) make up another house, and the last is focused on Casual and Family Games (Just Dance, Uno).
The Rub: Ubisoft says the strategy is informed by a “persistently more selective AAA market and an increasingly competitive shooter landscape,” as well as the “challenge for publishers to create brands in a context of higher costs.”
It also said its new strategy will be centred on “open world adventures” as well as live-service experiences, supported by “targeted investments, deeper specialization, and cutting-edge technology, including accelerated investments behind player-facing Generative AI.”
Ubisoft share prices plummeted by 39% in the following day, closing at around €3.98 (approx US $4.68). It marks the lowest share price for Ubisoft since 2011, when prices hit €5.00 (approx US $5.88). It also marks a dramatic decline from 2018, when they sat at €94 (approx US $110).
As to be expected, French games industry union Solidaires Informatique responded to the announcement as “disastrous,” citing the cost-cutting and end of remote working arrangements, and called for a half-day strike.
This certainly feels like a major rework for the publisher, which continues to be one of the largest dedicated videogame workforces in the world at over 17,000+ employees. It will likely still take some time before it finds itself on the other side of this valley, however.
Get more commentary in the latest episode of This Week in Video Games. |
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| The Facts: Microsoft hosted its 2026 Developer Direct this week, sharing information about three of its upcoming first-party games, as well as hosting Japanese developer Game Freak. Forza Horizon 6, the new entry in the open-world racing game from Playground Games, led the proceedings. Set in Japan, details were shared on new social features, such as multiplayer track building, and the Estate, a large plot of land which players can customise by building facilities and tracks. It’ll release 19 May 2026 on PC and Xbox consoles, with a PS5 release slated for later in 2026. Beast of Reincarnation followed, a self-described “one-person one-dog action RPG” set in post-apocalyptic Japan, and developed by Game Freak (Pokémon, Tembo the Badass Elephant) There’s a heavy emphasis on third-person action, with a suite of different abilities for loner protagonist Emma and her wolf companion Koo, supporting a variety of combat styles. It’s slated for release in mid-2026. A previously undisclosed segment featuring Double Fine Productions (Keeper, Psychonauts) debuted the studio’s next release, called Kiln. The game is a multiplayer title that revolves around creating pottery, which become anthropomorphised and then participate in team-based battles that involve carrying water and smashing opposing players. Kiln is due in the first half of 2026 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Fable, also developed by Playground Games, closed the showcase. It’s directed by studio founder Ralph Fulton, and serves as a “new beginning” for the series created by Lionhead. Beyond core questing and combat, much emphasis was placed on selling the game’s life simulation elements and its “living inhabitants” – supposedly over 1000 NPCs with pre-determined routines and personalities, who the player can interact with through a romance system, an employment system, and a multi-faceted morality system. It releases for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox in the latter half of 2026.
The Rub: Common sentiment seems to agree that this was a strong showing from all studios in question. The surprise of Kiln is a curious one — it’s the latest project to come out of Double Fine’s famous Amnesia Fortnight initiative, a semi-regular event where the studio’s developers pause work on current projects to conceive and build new game prototypes over a two-week period. Kiln was conceived during the 2017 edition of the event, prior to Double Fine’s acquisition by Microsoft.
It also brings to mind the long-running PsychOdyssey documentary, which notably featured an early meeting between Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty and Double Fine developers, where tensions were raised over the ownership of Amnesia Fortnight ideas.
As a multiplayer title, it raises a natural question about the challenges it faces in today’s landscape, but you certainly can’t say it’s not exceptionally unique. |
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| Netflix has indicated that it is pushing further into its cloud-based gaming strategy for TVs in 2026. [Read More] Hytale director Simon Collins-Laflamme has celebrated the game’s successful release after over a decade of turbulent development. [Read More] Bungie has shared over 30 voice actors featured in the English cast for upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. [Read More] Marathon Art Director Joseph Cross has spoken about his departure from Bungie months before the game's release in a new interview. [Read More] Former Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser has joined the Hasbro Board of Directors. [Hasbro] The Nintendo Switch 2 is Japan's fastest-selling console in the country’s history, moving 3.78 million units in 2025, according to Famitsu data. [Read More]
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| Life is Strange Reunion (PC, PS5, Xbox Series) – The next entry in the emotional and time-bending adventure series – a finale. Developed by Deck Nine. Releasing 27 March 2026. Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (Switch 2) The upgrade and expansion for Nintendo's platformer will release on 26 March 2026. Xbox Game Pass (PC, Xbox) Death Stranding, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, Space Marine II, and The Talos Principle 2 enter the Game Pass Catalog in the second half of January. Marathon (PC, PS5, Xbox Series) — The long-in-development extraction shooter from Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment will release on 5 March 2026.
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| Perfect Tides: Station to Station (PC) — Out Now
An IGF Award-nominated adventure game set in the early 2000s, following the story of an aspiring writer as she balances college and social life, with a neat “life experience” time management system.
Highguard (PC) — 26 Jan
A free-to-play, medieval-themed competitive shooter developed by a team staffed with developers formerly of Respawn Entertainment (Apex Legends, Titanfall).
Earth Must Die (PC) — 27 Jan
A new adventure game from Size Five Games (Lair of the Clockwork God), featuring an all-star cast of British comedians, including Taskmaster creator and host Alex Horne.
Cairn (PC, PS5) — 29 Jan
An atmospheric, challenging, free-form rock climbing and narrative adventure game from The Game Bakers (Furi, Haven).
Don't Stop, Girlypop! (PC) — 29 Jan
A fast-paced arena boomer shooter infused with an unashamedly ‘girly’ Y2K aesthetic. Focused on movement, with higher speeds dictating higher damage. Pictured.
Code Vein II (PC, PS5, Xbox Series) — 29 Jan
The sequel to Bandai Namco’s anime Soulslike, now with a time-travel narrative and a big emphasis on companion characters. |
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| This time last year, we kicked off 2025 with a very good narrative deduction called The Roottrees Are Dead. In 2026 there's a new one to scratch that brain itch: TR-49.
TR-49 is the new title from interactive narrative-focussed studio Inkle. You wake up in a dark basement, in front of an archaic World War II-era computer of sorts, and there's a voice telling you that the fate of the world counts on you finding the record of a particular book and deleting it – but you have no idea what it is or where to start.
Across the next six hours or so, you’ll use this clunky and tactile archival system to explore a catalog of books, journals and notes, learn more about the people that built and used the machine, and unravel a wild series of events that led to where you are now. Having played through it ourselves, we’d describe it as a literary version of Her Story , and it comes highly recommended.
TR-49 is out now on Steam for PC, Mac, and iOS. Plays great on Steam Deck. |
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| This week, Bungie revealed a release date for Marathon while also opening up pre-orders on Steam. Nothing particularly remarkable about that, but as it turned out, placing a pre-order also had a very concerning side effect: It would immediately begin installing Destiny 2.
Bungie did eventually correct the bug (a patch note read: “We've resolved an issue where Destiny 2 would begin installing after pre-ordering Marathon on Steam”) but not before every person and his dog made jokes about it on social media. (Thanks, PC Gamer!) |
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| | Thank you for reading This Week In Videogames. Our goal is to bring you concise updates on what's important in the world of games, without wasting your time with ads or filler content. We’re taking a break next Monday for an Australian public holiday, so see you next Tuesday! |
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