Most companies have traditionally considered the brands they’ve created or acquired in the past to be their most valuable assets. However, nowadays, what’s more important may be what they are capable of achieving in the future. The release of Gears of War: E-Day is an excellent opportunity to discuss how individual studios are transforming into independent and far more valuable IPs.

At the gaming culture festival The Tenth Mosaic, Japanese game designer Yoko Taro shared that he no longer wishes to be involved in games and would prefer to end his career, but his health concerns hold him back.

Recently on Steam, a personal calendar featuring recommended upcoming and recently released games has appeared, which is formed based on the preferences of the gamers themselves. The store has not disclosed exactly how the calendar algorithm works, but the CEO of Luden.io, Oleg Chumakov, has some guesses.

The British publisher Fireshine Games, known for releasing Core Keeper, Far Far West, and a plethora of other games, has recently expanded. The company announced the acquisition of the indie studio Fair Games.

It seems Sony is no longer very interested in virtual reality.

The French gambling regulator ANJ has announced the expansion of its cooperation with the agency responsible for monitoring advertising in the country. This will now also apply to games with monetizable digital items, including Web3 games with blockchain, NFTs, and crypto-assets.

Bandai Namco announced that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has already sold over 1 million copies worldwide. The arcade flight simulator reached this milestone faster than any previous installment in the 30-year-old franchise.

With a slight delay, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella published statistics on the U.S. gaming market for August 2026. According to the data, Americans are purchasing new releases well, yet this does not prevent the overall spending from continuing to decline.

Microsoft has announced the establishment of another division within XBOX, named XP.

Electronic Arts (EA) faced challenges following the sale of the company to a consortium of investors. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, bondholders have lodged complaints against EA, demanding more money than the face value of their securities.

In the section “Investor/Publisher Wanted” — IT BEGAN, a single-player tactical horror shooter by CODE84 from Tashkent. The team is seeking $40,000 to complete the demo version and prepare the project for negotiations with publishers and investors.

It provides access only to the lectures on October 16 — the second day of the WN Yerevan’26. The cost is approximately 12,200 drams (30 dollars). The schedule includes lectures on game creation using the “Lord of the Rings” and Warhammer 40,000 franchises.

Game designer Richard Garriott announced that in 2027 he will regain control over the Ultima franchise. He will not have to pay anything for this — Electronic Arts (EA) will transfer the rights completely free of charge.

In Russia’s northern capital, a museum dedicated to the history of video games has opened. It spans numerous iconic eras of the gaming industry, from the earliest arcade games to modern projects for VR and AR headsets.

Social networks, by themselves, generate a rather modest number of wishlists. This was confirmed by the CTO of the Balancy service, Andrey Apanasik, who recently announced his own game called Pocket Cat Desktop.

As a result, its valuation reached $190 million.

Sportradar has reached an agreement to sell Atrium Sports. The buyer will be Teamworks Innovations, which will pay $170 million.

In 2020, veterans of Respawn Entertainment and Infinity Ward founded the studio Gravity Well. Six years later, the team faced the threat of closure.

A month ago, it was reported that the studio Bit Reactor had put 80% of its staff on unpaid leave. Now its CEO, Greg Foertsch, announced the return of some employees.