Mentioning that he wasn’t quite sure where the rumors about pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Best Buy started from, Zelnick has also reiterated that the full marketing push for the highly anticipated title will begin in the summer.

Interestingly, earlier this year, there were also rumors that Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games might be planning to delay the physical release of Grand Theft Auto 6 to instead focus on a digital-only release. However, these rumors were debunked by Zelnick during an earnings call in February, where he said, “That’s not the plan.”

On the subject of the title’s arrival on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and the lack of a release date for a PC version, Zelnick said that the consoles serve as the “core” audience for the upcoming game, and as such, are the primary focus for the company.

“Rockstar always starts on console because I think with regard to a release like that you’re judged by serving the core,” Zelnick said earlier this month. “Like really serving the core consumer. If your core consumer isn’t there, if they’re not served first and best, you kind of don’t hit your other consumers.” On the subject of whether a deal was signed with Sony to put off the PC release, Zelnick said, “No. I mean, historically, Rockstar’s gone to console first.”

Zelnick isn’t wrong, since Rockstar has focused on releasing its 3D Grand Theft Auto titles since GTA 3 on consoles almost a year before they were brought to PC. This trend has continued with all of the company’s games, including Red Dead Redemption 2.

Interestingly, Zelnick has been largely silent when the discussion moved to the subject of pricing for Grand Theft Auto 6. His most recent comment on the matter came during a conference for gaming industry executives, where he said that the game’s pricing is down to what consumers would be willing to pay.

“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”

He also brought up the subject of inflation and how gaming software has largely avoided prices going up over the decades. “If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at… how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable,” he said.

Interestingly, Bank of America believes that the company should target an $80 price tag for the good of the entire industry.

Take-Two earnings: Grand Theft Auto VI is still planned for November 19. No delay. In an interview with Bloomberg today, CEO Strauss Zelnick said he didn't know where this week's Best Buy rumors came from and that pre-orders typically start alongside marketing (which will begin this summer).

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-05-21T20:15:38.749Z

Hamaguchi also noted that we will see more of his character arc evolve, especially with his tendency to talk too much when he finds a subject he is keenly interested in.

“We understand that many fans are fond of Chadley,” he said. “However, whether he’s become a playable character is something we’re unable to comment on at this time.”

“That said, Chadley will continue to play an important role even in the final installment of the trilogy. His strong curiosity and tendency to talk a bit too much – inherent traits that he’s aware of and somewhat self-conscious about – will be further explored in the third game, too. It’d make me happy if players could warmly follow how Chadley becomes involved in the story and what role he takes in supporting it.”

Chadley was introduced quite early in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, acting as the central hub for players to take on additional combat challenges through VR missions. Through him, players could also unlock new summon materia. Chadley also gave us additional side objectives that could be completed over the course of the game, like using the Assess skill on a certain number of enemies or causing specific enemies to get Staggered.

Through this, players could get their hands on powerful materia like Parry, First Strike, and Skill Master. Completing all of Chadley’s challenges also opened up a final optional boss fight—Bahamut—which rewarded players with the Bahamut Summon materia.

The character returned in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, frequently appearing in new towns that players traveled to and giving out more optional objectives to complete. Chadley, along with an AI he created named MAI, was also responsible for many of the game’s open-world activities. However, his presence in the game started to wear thin for many players owing to how often he would keep talking.

Chadley’s impact on the story in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 remains to be seen. However, Hamaguchi had previously said that the team has no plans to bring in large changes to the original Final Fantasy 7 story. He spoke about trusting the game’s writer, Kazushige Nojima, to not bring in large changes, since it was “one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about.”

“When it comes to the overarching story, I place my trust in what Kazushige Nojima writes and have no intention of altering that based on my judgment,” he said. “However, with the significant increase in visual fidelity in these remakes, arranging events and the passage of time exactly as they were in the original game can sometimes result in scenes that feel implausible.

“When changes in time or dates don’t feel convincing, it also breaks the player’s emotional engagement.”

In the meantime, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on June 3rd. For more details, here is everything you need to know about its Xbox Series X/S release.

It involves “reviving storied franchises and strengthening the console business”, per an interview with Bloomberg, and we have to say that it sounds like a good way to bring gamers back to the XBOX, especially with Project Helix shaping up to be a strong contender among upcoming next-gen consoles.

It’s a solid approach backed by the small but meaningful changes that the brand is making, the Player Voice feature being among them. It’s made all the more potent by his stated belief that, despite rising component costs, consoles are still “important, durable, and still growing” from a business perspective.

We wonder how he would respond to the claims of Windows Central’s Jez Corden about EA bottlenecking great features like the Game Pass Family Plan. We’re fairly sure that he’d find a suitable middle ground with the best interests of both sides of the equation in mind, although the balance might be in XBOX’s favor, considering what he’s trying to achieve. Whatever the case, we hope Ball manages to achieve his goals for XBOX and bring the brand back to its former glory.

Starting things off is a new Operation. Aptly titled Purgation, it involves Combat Squad Veridian investigating the mysterious cessation of communications from the Mechanicus facility, which houses key research and must hence be reclaimed at all costs.

Next up is the Battle Simulator, which lets you train and become a Marine like no other, with options to configure enemy combinations and weapon loadouts so you learn to get the most out of gear no matter the situation. That training is probably going to work well with a new approach to perk loadouts on your weapons, letting you switch things up freely depending on what you’re trying to deal with in the moment. Of course, perk loadouts are tied to weapon loadouts, so you might want to check all your gear before you head out to battle.

There’s also the new Wargear feature, which lets you equip several of them at once, with further additions promised in the near future. New Siege content and a bunch of different weapons and heroic items round out the list of additions, and we’re particularly interested in the One-Handed Bolt Carbine.

This one’s quite the update in our book, and the trailer below is a good indication of why. It makes it easy to see why Space Marine 2 has 12 million players, and why it continues to be a very potent shooter.

“I’ve been asked by investors whether we need to spend marketing dollars given the scale of the intellectual property and its reach and the sentiment… and the answer is, of course, we need to market it.” You can still “a very significant, broad-based marketing campaign that reflects where audiences and attention are today,” but don’t expect it to mirror how the company marketed Grand Theft Auto 5.

“13 years ago, we were still buying network television. We won’t be buying a lot of network television,” says Zelnick.

What that broad-based campaign could entail is anybody’s guess at this moment, but it isn’t the only question on our minds. The next trailer’s release date is one that we think a lot of you are curious about. We’re quite interested to see how fans eagerly waiting for news about this year’s biggest blockbuster will interpret what Zelnick has said.

This statement comes soon after he lamented the delay in GTA 6’s release, and whispers of an interesting approach to leak prevention by Rockstar. We think it’s past time for one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, and perhaps the decade, to get a new trailer and get those marketing plans, whatever they may be, started already.

Either way, all this has done is make us all the more curious about what the next few months are going to bring in the run-up to Grand Theft Auto 6 finally releasing on November 19th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Well, it seems like Sony’s tweet on the subject didn’t really mention the fact that those hikes were also applicable to the Extra and Premium tiers. Each sees a $2 increase if you’re buying only a month, while it’s a $4 increase for three months. Yearly subscriptions remain unaffected, though, which is probably for the best since an increase might have earned Sony a few more disgruntled customers and strongly worded complaints.

The price increase follows increases in PS5 and PS5 Pro prices, and is sure to further fuel concerns about the PS6’s potential price tag. However, with Marvel’s Wolverine and Grand Theft Auto 6 coming out later this year, Sony still has a lot going for it as far as bringing in new players is concerned. We would have appreciated a better-worded announcement, though, and we’re sure a lot of you feel the same way.

Let’s hope that Sony learns the right lessons from this little snafu, and perhaps spends some time thinking about how its announcements could be interpreted, especially with the next State of Play coming on June 2nd (and apparently featuring other exclusives than Wolverine).

Compare this to Forza Horizon 5, which entered early access on November 5th, 2021, and crossed ten million players on November 19th. Its successor is likely to surpass that total within the same time frame, especially after the extremely positive word-of-mouth from players and critical reviews. The fact that it’s topped the Steam top 100 selling games chart, beating out the cheaper Subnautica 2, probably doesn’t hurt either.

All of this sets up Forza Horizon 6 to sell gangbusters when it launches on PS5 later this year. Neither XBOX nor Playground have indicated when that will be, but you would have to think September or October, if only to avoid conflicting with its other first-party titles. And it’s unlikely to want to compete with Grand Theft Auto 6 in November.

We’ll have to wait and find out. In the meantime, check out our review for Forza Horizon 6, where we gave it a nine out of ten.

Interestingly, it seems they’ll center on Edward Thatch’s fate, potentially intertwining with the new Blackbeard’s Treasure quest. “[These additional endgame missions] give us room to resolve that,” says Knight. “Like, ‘What happened there?’ Can we follow up those little plot threads so that you have kind of a more full experience, should you choose to go down that route? But, you can still play the same sort of epic Edward saga the way you did back then [because these endgame missions take place after Edward’s original story wraps up].”

But that’s not all, as there are also new side missions, according to creative director Paul Fu. Other “beloved characters” will receive “new ending missions” as well, potentially wrapping up any loose ends. How that will go down with longtime fans if they’re up to snuff is another matter entirely.

Regardless, coupled with the new officers, whose quests must be completed to earn their trust and recruit them to the Jackdaw, you’re looking at roughly six additional hours of game time. It doesn’t fully make up for the lack of Freedom Cry, Liberation and multiplayer, but this does ensure the focus remains on Edward and his crew.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on July 9th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and thanks to some hands-on time, we learned a lot about what you can expect from the remake. Head here for all the details, or check out what’s new with the naval combat, which is looking like it could steal the show.

It’s a perfect blend of familiar elements from an experience that continues to stand tall amongst its peers, and innovative flourishes that make the game even better than we remember it from around a decade ago. And while returning to the Caribbean was a great dose of nostalgia, it was getting to pilot the Jackdaw that really caught our fancy.

Granted, Edward’s brig was an important part of the original experience, and a memorable one at that. This time around, it’s a vehicle for the game to show off its revamped combat, both on the seas and on the decks of enemy ships. Our best moments from our time with Resynced came from the Jackdaw. Here’s how it all went down.

The Gentle Waves

We’re not going to spend too long gushing over the new visuals, however tempting that may be. Black Flag already brought gorgeous visuals to the table, bringing the seas and islands to life in a way that showed off what the PS4 and Xbox One could do at the time of its release. Resynced builds on that, using every current-gen trick in the book to make the seas stand out even among the genre’s heavy hitters like Valhalla on the visual front.

The water simulations are top-notch, and the open seas reflect light from the sun with near-perfect accuracy courtesy of ray tracing. Pick a fight with an enemy ship or building, and you’re going to see the warm glow of fires you create engulf the area, shadows flickering even as a raging battle unfolds around them. At night, the soft glow of the Jackdaw’s lanterns bounces gently off railings and pillars.

Of course, improved draw distances and a hitherto impossible level of detail make it all more immersive than it was in the past, while stylish touches like a visual representation of an island’s topography on your map, a new wagon wheel for you to get to your shanties even faster, and the Anvil Engine’s weather system taking over the seas at its whim are all great additions.

Your ship is now at the mercy of the weather, and its handling varies based on the kind of waters you’re sailing. That’s a change we immediately felt, and it is one that adds a tactical layer to combat encounters. Is it a good idea to take on that ship in the distance when storm clouds loom large over it? In Black Flag, we’d have probably chosen violence. In Resynced, we still chose violence, but we stopped to think about it first.

Of course, there’s a reason we chose violence, and that’s because picking fights with the Jackdaw continues to be a great way to have a blast with your crew and be an absolute menace on the high seas.

The Sound of Battle Horns

One of the more interesting changes we noticed right off the bat was that enemies on the sea were quite intelligent this time around, with fleets taking a more organized approach against the Jackdaw. Black Flag’s naval combat could get pretty easy once you got a few Jackdaw upgrades in, tearing through enemy hulls with reckless abandon. That’s not the case in Resynced, and you’re going to have to pay attention to where your enemies are in relation to your own vessel if you want to keep your own hull long enough to ensure you sail out of the battle in one piece.

While your weapons are going to be very familiar to those of you who dabbled in battles with the Jackdaw back in the day, their new secondary applications are sure to bring a new layer of strategy to the table, depending on how their use is implemented. We’d have loved to try out the new Shrapnel Barrels that decimate enemy sails and the 8-Pounder cannons that can open up more weak spots for you to exploit, but they were also not available to us in our curated glance at the game.

Equally exciting is the new twist of enemy ships coming with alliances and conflicts with other factions on the seas, which is sure to make naval battles unpredictable in ways that you can’t really predict. We would have liked the Spaniards to step in against a particularly nasty British fleet hell-bent on stopping our daring rescue of newly-added shipwright Lucy Baldwin, but alas, that’s one more thing we’re going to have to wait to check out.

We were able to take down any enemy ships or fortresses with ease, our muscle memory working very well with the new and improved framerates to make every fight smooth sailing from a technical standpoint, while our skills came from hours already spent in the Caribbean, the Jackdaw at our command. Naval combat isn’t fully reworked in Resynced, and that’s a good thing.

In an embodiment of the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Resynced enhances an already solid system for fighting enemy ships with creative flourishes that add depth to each fight while retaining everything an Assassin needs to synchronise quite quickly with the Jackdaw even after nearly thirteen years on the shore. Of course, you still get to whittle down enemy ships to impede their mobility and then board them to take over.

And that’s where the naval combat in Resynced finds the last missing piece to make it an almost perfect part of the remake.

The Clashes of Blades

While the new combat system is great on land, it’s when you’re on an enemy ship that it truly begins to showcase how much has changed in Resynced. We’re going to be brutally honest here, but the combat in Black Flag was honestly too easy. All you had to do was attack one enemy with your combo while waiting for another one to come at you. Parry that attack with a very generous timing window, and all you had to do was point Edward to his next victim to take down large groups in mere seconds.

The sheer spectacle of it all, and the fact that it was a continuation of the genre’s combat formula over the years, may have let Black Flag get away with that simplistic approach; things have changed now. We’ve got every Assassin’s Creed title since Origins, coming with a more refined approach to fights, and it makes you earn those openings to get in some serious damage.

Resynced takes the middle ground, with Edward continuing to be a deadly threat on his way to becoming a legit scourge of the seas while the Assassins do their utmost to guide him towards his nobler disposition. Those parries we talked about? They’re now locked behind tighter timing windows, requiring you to carefully watch enemy animations and counter their attacks at the last possible moment.

That change alone makes fighting enemy crews a deadly dance of blades, one where missing a single beat could turn the tide of battle against you. However, get a perfect parry right, and Edward is still going to be able to chain takedowns between four enemies. However, with smoother framerates and revamped kill animations, fighting off enemy crews to bring down their morale requires a measured, careful approach that makes you use every tool in your arsenal to gain an advantage in the heat of battle.

You’re encouraged to use the environment to your advantage, thinning enemy numbers to make pulling off parry takedowns more manageable. We’re expecting to see the new gear system come into play in these battles, with buffs that can perhaps increase the number of takedowns you can chain, or bestow other advantages that can add further wrinkles to the system on offer.

Once again, Resynced isn’t reinventing the wheel, but adds a few new spokes that give it a layer of current-gen appeal that had us wishing we got more time with the game than we did.

Part of the Crew, Part of the Ship

With all of the changes we’ve seen, and the way they’re balanced against familiar elements from Black Flag, Resynced’s naval combat looks like it could make the Jackdaw even more integral to Edward’s adventure than it already was in the original game. Every sunny day in the Caribbean was a temptation to just hop onto its deck and ignore anything that wasn’t floating on the waves.

We can’t wait to get on to the seas with the entire map open when the game comes out, but until then, we’re going to be humming shanties under our breath while we tick the days away as we wait for a reunion with our second-favorite Assassin of them all. They don’t make them like old Edward anymore, but there’s always Hexe to remain hopeful about.

Unfortunately, there isn’t any further information or a release date – just the promise that it’s “coming soon.” Since launch, there have been two Legendary Warbonds for Killzone and Halo 3: ODST, which added armor sets, weapons, and cosmetics from both titles. The biggest difference from Premium Warbonds is that they cost 1,500 Super Credits instead of 1,000 ($10).

It’s almost a given that the Warhammer 40,000 Legendary Warbond will feature armor sets based on the Space Marines, but which Chapters? The Ultramarines are likely a shoo-in alongside the Blood Angels and the Space Wolves. You can also likely expect iconic weapons like the Boltgun and Chainsword, but once again, we’ll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Helldivers 2 will receive a patch on May 27th to add support for AMD FSR, DLSS 4.5, XeSS 3.0, and PSSR support for PS5 Pro players. It’s also working on new Campaigns for Galactic War that last several weeks alongside improving the progression systems and much more. Head here for more details.