Gaming | The VergeThe Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.2026-08-15T21:56:13+00:00https://www.theverge.com/rss/games/index.xmlhttps://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/verge-rss-large_80b47e.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1Terrence O’Brien<![CDATA[Matt Groening lets slip that Simpsons: Hit & Run might be making a comeback]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9807202026-08-15T17:56:13-04:002026-08-15T17:56:13-04:00
Doh! | Image: Activision / 20th Century Fox
At D23, when asked about the potential for a sequel to the cult classic The Simpsons: Hit & Run game, Matt Groening replied, "I think the original game is coming back in some form," before current showrunner Matt Selman added, "or not." The tone in both of their voices and the body language suggests that Groening may have just revealed something he wasn't supposed to.
The original title came out way back in 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Windows. While it's possible to get the game up and running on modern computers, it's not available on modern consoles. It's currently not in the PlayStation Plus Classics Catalog or on the Xbo …
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Sean Hollister<![CDATA[The MSI Claw EX is the most important PC handheld since Steam Deck — I still wouldn’t buy one]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9776462026-08-14T10:31:05-04:002026-08-14T07:00:00-04:00
The Claw EX. I rather like the purple. 3D-printed stand not included.
As The Verge's resident handheld reviewer, I have nearly every portable gaming PC on a shelf in my house. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus is now the first one I reach for. Thanks to a next-gen Intel chip and improved MSI design, the Claw EX is the most powerful handheld that truly feels portable. It's the handheld with the longest battery life, and the first Windows handheld I can trust to sleep and wake reliably.
Like the Steam Deck, when I press the power button, my game is always right where I left off. Unlike the Steam Deck, it can hibernate for days without losing a significant amount of charge.
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[Netflix is closing two game studios]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9798552026-08-13T17:11:44-04:002026-08-13T16:52:58-04:00
A screenshot of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals from Night School Studio. | Image: Night School / Netflix
Netflix plans to shut down two of its gaming studios, as reported by Game File and Variety, as it makes a bigger shift toward party games and titles streamed to TVs.
One of the studios being shut down is Night School Studio, creators of the Oxenfree series. Netflix bought Night School in 2021, and it just released a horror experience called Unhinged for TVs and launched a mobile game in 2025 tied to Black Mirror. The other studio that's set to close is Helsinki-based Moonloot Games, which was created in 2022.
Netflix's big push into TV-based games kicked off late last year and was a pivot from a mobile-focused approach that featured presti …
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[2K launches new studio to build its ‘next blockbuster sports franchise’]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9796892026-08-13T12:38:15-04:002026-08-13T12:38:15-04:00
2K is launching a new AAA game development studio, Small Axe Studios, with an ambitious goal: to build the company's "next blockbuster sports franchise," according to a LinkedIn post.
The post doesn't explicitly say what sport this new game will focus on. But an image included in the post features what appears to be a mockup soccer badge, indicating that Small Axe might be making a soccer game that goes head-to-head with EA Sports FC. The Small Axe website also lists senior staffers with experience working on EA's FIFA series (the former name of EA Sports FC), including studio head Aaron McHardy, who once led that franchise.
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Kallie Plagge<![CDATA[Wolverine on the PS5 made me care about Marvel’s mutant for the first time]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9775642026-08-10T18:40:24-04:002026-08-13T11:00:00-04:00
Going into my demo of Marvel's Wolverine, I mainly wanted to try out the game's very bloody combat. And it is delightfully bloody. But after two-ish hours of slashing and stabbing (and parrying!) enemies with Wolverine's claws, I left surprised - despite no previous attachment to the character, I was deeply endeared to Logan himself.
The demo, which was held at Insomniac Games' office in Burbank, California, started at the beginning of the game. In this story, Wolverine is rejoining the mutant task force Team X after a few years away in order to fight for his fellow mutants. He's a reluctant hero with rocky relationships and little memory o …
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[Nintendo’s next Fire Emblem has a bold new structure]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9779552026-08-11T19:09:09-04:002026-08-13T09:00:00-04:00
Nintendo's first Fire Emblem game for the Switch 2 is structured in an ambitious way. Unlike the well-loved Three Houses, a strategy game that tasked you with pledging allegiance to a specific faction and seeing their story all the way to the end, the new Fortune's Weave lets you swap between four heroes and their compatriots so you can tackle multiple storylines at once. With Three Houses, I only ever played one path and never went back to experience the others. I hoped that the new game's structure would be a way to see everyone's stories in one playthrough.
After playing 26 hours of Fortune's Weave, which launches on September 17th, I've …
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Brad Bourque<![CDATA[This 8BitDo mechanical keyboard has an extra keypad and is 30 percent off]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9792632026-08-12T17:21:09-04:002026-08-12T17:21:09-04:00
The 8BitDo mechanical keyboard and dual super buttons. | Image: The Verge
If you’re looking for a mechanical keyboard that can give your desk a touch of retro flair, Amazon has 8BitDo’s Retro Mechanical Keyboard with Dual Super Buttons on sale for $69.99, one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the bundle. The styling on this keyboard is thorough, with blocky retro legends on the rounded keycaps, and supplementary buttons and detailing to help match the theme.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard
This mechanical keyboard is designed to look like Nintendo’s original NES controller, with features like two red customizable buttons. Along with Bluetooth support, it also offers a standard tenkeyless layout with clicky, hot-swappable switches.
Despite how it looks on the outside, the internals on this keyboard are modern, with support for Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, and a USB wired connection, and compatibility with both Windows and Android. The 87-key setup is mounted on white Kailh Box switches for that vintage clicky sound, with a volume knob and function keys for quick controls.
The included dual super buttons connect to the keyboard, and can be programmed to a variety of key combinations and functions without the need for any additional software. These sizable buttons are great for easy access to shortcuts like copy and paste or media shortcuts, and the bundle includes one, but you can connect up to four to a single keyboard.
Other deals to consider
Best Buy has the Aukey 2-in-1 MagSafe Qi2 wireless charging stand discounted to $27.99 (usually $49.99). The stand can charge your iPhone and AirPods at the same time with up to 15W of power, and folds away neatly for travel or to clear desk space.
You can grab a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge with 512GB of storage at Woot for $669.99, almost half off the retail price of $1,299.99. The phone stands out with its remarkably thin and light design, and still has recent generation smartphone features, like a SnapDragon 8 Elite chipset, 200MP camera, and 6.7-inch 1440p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Read our review.
The Lego Icons Transformers Soundwave set is on sale at Amazon for $168.96, almost matching its all-time low price. This 1,505-piece set can transform between the character’s robot and cassette player modes without any disassembly, and the included sound effects block helps give this kit a fun twist.
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[The next big indie game publisher is taking some exciting swings]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9779852026-08-12T12:08:42-04:002026-08-12T15:30:00-04:00
Promotional artwork for Sam Barlow’s Precognition. Looks trippy.
Kinetic Publishing, a new indie publisher from the development team behind the co-op horror game Phasmophobia, just hosted its first games showcase, and it includes five ambitious new titles set to release in 2027 and 2028.
Perhaps the most significant announcement from Kinetic's show is that it's publishing the next game from Telling Lies and Immortality creator Sam Barlow, titled Precognition. (Barlow previously revealed the game as "Project C.") Like other Barlow titles, Precognition will feature FMV-sequences and nonlinear storytelling. Here's the setup:
Players take on the role of Diana, a woman who discovers she can receive vision …
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[Amazon gets out of the MMO game]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9790702026-08-12T12:46:05-04:002026-08-12T12:46:05-04:00
Amazon is fully stepping back from MMOs. After saying last year that it would be halting "a significant amount" of its work on first-party AAA games, "specifically around MMOs," Amazon will be handing over live operations of Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark in the West to other companies, according to announcements on Wednesday. Throne and Liberty will be taken over by FirstSpark Games and NC in Q4 2026. Lost Ark will be run by Smilegate starting in early 2027.
When Amazon announced the broader strategy shift in October, the developers of a third MMO, New World: Aeternum, announced plans to stop offering new content updates. As of January, y …
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[Saber denies replacing Rideshare Stimulator’s writers with ChatGPT]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9785582026-08-11T20:40:27-04:002026-08-11T20:39:26-04:00
After a former lead writer claimed Saber "replaced me with ChatGPT," CEO Matthew Karch now claims, "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI," for the Rideshare "Stimulator" game announced last month, developed by Unigine.
The writer, Stella Sacco, says differently, however, posting on Bluesky that "I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. Either they changed direction at some point or they're not disclosing it on Steam."
Saber describes Rideshare "Stimulator"as an "immersive driving simulation game that puts you behind the wheel …
