The past week in the video game industry has been a real mix of good and bad news. Encouraging reveals about the near future thanks to HBO and EA, were countered with delays and shutdowns courtesy of Google and Ubisoft. Plus more news on the GTA 6 leaks, of course, as Rockstar and the FBI attempts to get to the bottom of all this. Everything you need to know about all of that and a little more as we recap all of the biggest stories in gaming from the past seven days.
HBO's The Last Of Us Trailer
September 26 is The Last Of Us day, and this year fans were treated to the first in-depth look at HBO's TV adaptation of the series. The trailer was teeming with references those who have played the games would have recognized instantly, with some scenes clearly pulled directly from the first game. There's clearly a huge audience out there for the show too as the trailer was watched 2.5 million times in the first hour, and 12.5 million times in less than 24 hours. The series arrives on HBO and HBO Max in 2023.
Stadia Is Shutting Down
Google's ambitious cloud streaming Stadia service was always going to be an ambitious leap into the still somewhat unknown. Turns out it was even more ambitious than anyone could have anticipated, and after failing to make an impact on the video game world, Google has announced the service will be shutting down. The good news is any Stadia hardware and games you have bought will be refunded by Google. The bad news is the storefront has already been shut down, and developers working on Stadia games found out about the shutdown at the same time as everyone else.
EA Reveals Wild Hearts
EA and Koei Temco have been teasing a new game together for a while. This week was deemed the right time to reveal that game to the world. The very first trailer for Wild Hearts was shown off on Wednesday, and the game clearly pulls inspiration from a number of places. A little bit of Monster Hunter, a little bit of Fortnite, and pop all of those elements in an environment designed to look as if the player is in feudal Japan. Wild Hearts will launch on February 27, 2023, so not long to wait if you like the look of it.
Skull & Bones Has Been Delayed
There was a time when we hadn't heard about Ubisoft's Skull & Bones for so long that many assumed the project had been scrapped. That was not the case, and the studio finally confirmed its pirate game will be here in November. Well, it was going to be. Skull & Bones now won't launch until March 2023, and while that might be frustrating for those of you who have been waiting for the game for years, it's a blessing in disguise for others. That means a ten-day period during which Sonic Frontiers, God of War Ragnarok, and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will all wade onto the market is now a little less busy.
Potential GTA Hacker Charged
While it still hasn't been confirmed due to the arrested party being under 18, it's assumed the hacker brought in last week is the person responsible for leaking the GTA 6 videos and screenshots. Whoever they are, they appeared in court this week and have been charged with computer misuse. Shortly after that, it was revealed the suspect presumed to be the Uber and GTA hacker has pleaded not guilty to the crimes they have been accused of. No word yet on how severely they will be punished if they are the hacker they are believed to be, and whether Rockstar will take additional action against them.
Pokemon Introduces Wiglett
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will launch on November 18 and when it does, gen nine will officially be underway. Some of the new Pokemon coming to the series via gen nine have already been revealed, and that list got a little longer this week when Wiglett was shown off for the first time. A long white Diglett in appearance that actually has no connection to the gen one ground type at all. Rather than a Paldean form of Diglett, Wiglett has its own Pokedex entry as it and Diglett aren't descendants of the same species of ancient Pokemon. If you're as confused as I was about all this, check out how one trainer has used convergent evolution to explain what it all means.