Night Street Games, the indie studio funded by members of the band Imagine Dragons, has laid off about a dozen staff after its multiplayer shooter Last Flag fell short of the financial success the team had anticipated. CEO Mac Reynolds confirmed the redundancies in a statement, leaving the studio with 13 remaining developers a little over a month after the game launched on 14 April 2026.

Last Flag shipped to a Mostly Positive reception on Steam, yet the player count never reached the level Night Street needed to keep the project growing. The studio has pledged to continue updating the game with new maps, modes and cosmetics before turning its attention to fresh projects.

The Redundancies At Night Street Games

About a dozen developers have been let go from Night Street Games, reducing the team to 13 remaining staff. CEO Mac Reynolds confirmed the redundancies, saying the studio had poured everything into bringing Last Flag to life but that game development remains an inherently risky business. Reynolds said Night Street would work with the affected developers over the coming months to help them find new opportunities.

News of the cuts first surfaced through executive producer Jonathan Jelinek, who set out the situation in a post on LinkedIn.

Jelinek said Last Flag had not achieved the financial success Night Street anticipated, the same shortfall Reynolds pointed to in explaining the decision. Between the two statements, the studio framed the layoffs as a direct response to the game’s commercial performance rather than any change in creative direction.

With a dozen roles gone and 13 developers left, Night Street has shed close to half of the team that built and launched Last Flag. A studio of that size carries a much narrower output, and the work immediately ahead centres on supporting the game already released rather than scaling up for anything larger. Reynolds gave no indication that the studio planned further reductions, framing the current 13-person team as the group that would carry Last Flag forward.

Last Flag’s Launch And Steam Reception

Last Flag launched on 14 April 2026 as a multiplayer shooter and currently holds a Mostly Positive rating on Steam, drawn from 475 user reviews. On Steam’s scale, Mostly Positive places the game in the band where roughly seven to eight in every ten reviews are favourable, marking a release that landed well with the players who bought it.

The sentiment, though, sits against a modest review total. A count of 475 reviews points to a small launch audience for a game built around online multiplayer, and a multiplayer shooter depends on a steady concurrent population far more than on review sentiment alone. Empty lobbies and long matchmaking queues weigh on player retention regardless of how positively the game scores, and a thin launch crowd makes that problem harder to climb out of.

That gap between a warm reception and a small audience runs through the whole situation at Night Street. Last Flag was not rejected on quality, which leaves the financial result, not the design, as the reason the studio reached for redundancies barely a month after release. For an indie team launching a single online title, a positive but quiet debut is one of the harder outcomes to recover from.

The 1 May Blog Post And A Falling Player Count

Night Street had signalled trouble before the layoffs were confirmed. In a blog post published on 1 May, just over two weeks after launch, the team said Last Flag’s player count was not where it needed to be to support additional development beyond the patches already planned.

That post drew a line under how far the studio could take the game on its launch performance alone. Rather than promising an open-ended content pipeline, Night Street tied any work past the immediate patches to a recovery in the player base that had not arrived. The redundancies followed within weeks, turning the blog post’s caution into a confirmed reduction in headcount. The wording also set expectations for players, making clear that the support roadmap would be finite rather than the rolling content cycle that live multiplayer games often promise at launch.

The timeline is tight. Last Flag launched on 14 April, the player count warning came on 1 May, and the layoffs were confirmed in the weeks after, all inside the game’s first two months on sale. For a debut release, it left Night Street very little runway between launch and the decision to cut staff, and almost no time for a marketing push or seasonal content to turn the population around.

Night Street Joins A Wider Wave Of 2026 Layoffs

The cuts at Night Street Games land in a month already crowded with job losses across the games industry. Night Street joins a growing list of studios that have announced layoffs or closures through May 2026, a list that also includes Metacore, 2K and MercurySteam.

For Night Street, the parallel is uncomfortable but instructive. Larger and longer-established companies have not been shielded from the same pressures, and a small studio launching a single multiplayer title into that environment carries far less margin for a soft commercial start. A debut release that reviews well but sells modestly leaves almost no room to absorb a shortfall.

The Imagine Dragons connection gave Night Street a higher profile than most studios of its size, with members of the band among its backers. That profile has not changed the maths facing the team. Last Flag still needs a player base large enough to justify continued investment, and the funding behind the studio does not remove the commercial test the game now has to pass. The redundancies show that even a well-backed indie is held to the same standard as any other release on a crowded storefront.

The Updates Still Planned For Last Flag

Despite the smaller team, Night Street has confirmed that Last Flag will keep receiving content before the studio moves on to new ideas. The team has committed to a defined set of additions built around new modes, maps and player-side options.

• New contestants joining the existing roster
• Additional maps for the multiplayer rotation
• A new game mode
• New cosmetics
• The ability for players to host lobbies with custom rules

The custom lobby feature stands out for a multiplayer shooter with a thin population. Letting players set their own rules and run their own matches hands the community a tool to keep games going even when official matchmaking is quiet, which can matter more for retention than new maps for a title fighting to hold its audience.

Night Street has been clear that this content arrives before, not instead of, the studio’s next move. Once the planned updates are out, the 13-strong team intends to begin work on new game ideas, treating Last Flag’s remaining roadmap as the closing chapter of the project rather than an open-ended commitment. Whether those updates can lift Last Flag’s population enough to reshape that plan, or whether Night Street moves on as scheduled, is the question now facing the studio.

The post Imagine Dragons-Funded Last Flag Studio Lays Off a Dozen Staff a Month After Launch appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Valve has finally locked in a release date and price for its long-teased Steam Controller, more than five months after the gamepad was first revealed. The new controller lands on Monday, 4 May 2026 at 10:00 AM PT, priced at US$99, with Valve confirming the details on its official Twitter account little more than a week ahead of launch.

Excited to announce our @Steam Controller arrives on Steam May 4th at 10 a.m. PT.

Learn more and wishlist here: https://t.co/X8cETMRY3N

— Valve (@valvesoftware) April 27, 2026

It is the first new gamepad from Valve since the original Steam Controller’s 2015 debut, and it is shipping ahead of the still-delayed Steam Machine and Steam Frame headset that were announced alongside it last November.

Release Date And Pricing By Region

The launch is global, with timing tied to North American business hours. For NZ buyers, that translates to a 5:00 AM Tuesday, 5 May (NZST) drop, well before the local working day starts. Valve has officially confirmed prices in the US and EU so far, with UK and other regional pricing yet to appear on the Steam Store at the time of writing.

Pre-orders are not part of the rollout. The missing queue system is flagged as a likely headache for launch day, given how much chatter the hardware has generated since its reveal in November 2025. Valve says it has built a significant quantity of stock for launch and can produce more if demand outpaces supply.

What Is Actually New In The Hardware

The headline change is the dual-trackpad layout, with each side of the controller pairing a thumbstick and a square trackpad. The pads are pressure-sensitive with configurable click strength and are designed to replicate mouse-style input for games traditionally locked to keyboard and mouse. Valve is pitching this as the way back in for FPS, strategy and simulation players who never warmed to gamepads.

The thumbsticks are magnetic TMR units with capacitive touch, the same drift-resistant tech that has become standard for premium third-party controllers in 2026. The capacitive layer lets the controller detect whether your thumb is resting on the stick, which Steam Input can use to switch motion-based aiming on and off automatically.

The rest of the feature set fills out the premium-controller checklist:

• Four HD haptic motors total, two under the trackpads for fine tactile feedback and two in the grips for traditional rumble
• A six-axis gyro paired with capacitive grip sensors in the handles, used to toggle motion controls only when the controller is being held
• Four programmable back buttons sitting under the middle and ring fingers
• A dedicated Steam button doubling as a power switch and a cascade shortcut into Steam, Big Picture mode and the Steam menu
• Infrared LEDs built into the controller for tracking by the Steam Frame headset’s cameras when it eventually ships
• An 8.39Wh lithium-ion battery, with Valve quoting up to 35 hours of gameplay

Connectivity is handled by a small puck attached to a 5-foot USB-C cable. The puck doubles as a magnetic charging dock and a 2.4GHz wireless receiver, can host up to four Steam Controllers at once, and snaps onto the back of the controller when not in use. There is also a USB-C port on the top of the controller for direct charging or wired play, plus Bluetooth for connecting to phones and tablets.

Compatibility Across The Steam Ecosystem

The 2015 Steam Controller leaned almost entirely on Steam itself, but the new model casts a wider net. Valve says it works with any device running Steam or the Steam Link app, which covers Windows, macOS and Linux, plus tablets and smartphones routed through Steam Link.

It is fully compatible with the Steam Deck in both docked and handheld modes, pairs directly with the upcoming Steam Machine, and can wake a Steam Machine remotely without needing the puck plugged in. All of this strongly suggests it is being designed as the default input for that hardware whenever it actually ships. Console support, on the other hand, is off the table. The controller does not pair with PS5 or Xbox systems, even over Bluetooth.

How The Price Stacks Up Against Other Controllers

At US$99, the Steam Controller sits in an awkward middle ground. It costs more than the standard first-party console gamepads, but well below most enthusiast PC controllers with comparable feature sets.

The dual haptic trackpads are what set the Steam Controller apart in that lineup. Cheaper TMR-based options match the drift-resistant sticks but lack the trackpads, while ultra-premium gamepads like the Asus ROG Raikiri II add features such as RGB lighting that drive the price up sharply without offering trackpads at all.

Speaking to IGN, Valve’s Steve Cardinali credited the US$99 figure to discipline about what features made the cut and what was left out, with the absence of RGB lighting falling into that bucket. Valve also told The Verge that the price is still higher than originally planned, pointing to global shipping costs and the broader memory and component crunch as the main drivers.

Steam Machine And Steam Frame Are Still Missing

The Steam Controller was announced last November alongside two other pieces of hardware, the Steam Machine console-style PC and the Steam Frame VR headset. Both remain unannounced for release, and the silence has only grown louder as the controller’s launch closes in.

In an interview with IGN, Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais said the team does not have an updated timeline for either product but described internal progress as broadly positive and indicated Valve expects to roll out news on both soon. He stopped short of committing to a 2026 release window for either device.

The most likely reason for the staggered rollout is the ongoing global memory shortage. Valve has said publicly that DRAM and storage prices are pushing the Steam Machine’s pricing and timing into uncertain territory, and the Steam Controller has been able to ship first because it does not use system RAM. Early estimates from outlets including IGN have put the Steam Machine somewhere between US$800 and US$1,500, although nothing has been confirmed by Valve.

What To Watch On Launch Day

With no pre-order pipeline to absorb early demand, May 4 is shaping up as a chaotic Monday morning for anyone hoping to grab a unit at 10:00 AM PT. Valve’s regional Steam Store pages are the only confirmed point of sale so far, and stock visibility there will be the main thing to track once the timer hits zero.

For NZ buyers, the early-Tuesday window means the rush will largely be over before most people are heading to work. Anyone wanting a closer look at the hardware before then can find IGN’s Steam Controller unboxing video and full review already live, with around two weeks of hands-on testing behind both.

The bigger story sits behind the launch itself, particularly whether Valve uses the controller’s reception as a runway to finally lock in firm dates for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame.

The post Steam Controller Launches May 4 at US$99, Valve Confirms appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A small indie game called Scarlet Skips has become the most talked-about release on gaming this week, and the reasons are not especially subtle. Developer Yerk introduced the one-button jump rope roguelike on 20 April 2026, and within a day a single repost of the trailer had pulled in roughly 4.1 million views, with most of the attention pointed squarely at the protagonist’s chest physics rather than the gameplay loop.

The game itself is a genuinely clever take on score-chasing roguelikes, built around a single button and stackable upgrades. But the conversation online has split cleanly in two, with one crowd dissecting the mechanics and a much larger crowd making the same joke over and over. The Steam page is now live for wishlisting, and whether that traffic converts into actual sales will be one of the more interesting indie case studies of the year.

How Scarlet Skips Actually Plays

Underneath the memes, Scarlet Skips is a tightly designed arcade roguelike. The entire game runs on press, hold, and release inputs of one button, with the hold duration controlling jump height and rope swing timing. Nail the release and Scarlet keeps skipping, mistime it and the run ends.

The roguelike layer sits on top of that core loop. Each level-up offers a choice of three random power-ups pulled from a pool the developer describes as more than a dozen possible upgrades, ranging from increased jump height to adding a jump rope, to setting the rope on fire. The upgrades stack and combine, which opens up what Yerk pitches as a virtually infinite number of build configurations for players chasing optimised runs.

The premise framing is lightly self-aware. The Steam description frames the game as helping Scarlet break out of her funk by touching grass, with the tagline noting that life can be hard but you can take it one jump at a time. It is a simple elevator pitch for a simple game, which is part of why it has spread so easily.

Why The Trailer Blew Up

The game went viral through a repost from indie curator account IndieGameJoe, which framed Scarlet Skips with a straight description of its mechanics and asked whether people would play it. That tweet hit around 4.1 million views, and the replies quickly made clear that a lot of the audience was not primarily interested in roguelike build theory.

This indie dev is making a game where all you do is skip rope… with one button.

– Time your jumps perfectly
– Roguelike upgrades every run
– Try to survive as long as possible

It’s called Scarlet Skips. Would you play this? pic.twitter.com/yyKYd8TiRa

— Indie Game Joe (@IndieGameJoe) April 20, 2026

One reply noted that the developer had put their focus on “the physics” in a jumping game, to which IndieGameJoe replied that the idea is actually cool though. Another account replied that they play it “purely” for the roguelike mechanics, which earned a simple “ffs” from the curator. The running joke across quote tweets was that the character’s proportions and bounce animations were doing more marketing work than the trailer itself.

A secondary observation that has picked up traction is that Scarlet bears a clear visual resemblance to Princess Daisy from the Mario series, with red hair, a blue top, and a pose-heavy animation style.

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The Animation System Yerk Is Actually Selling

The uncomfortable irony for the developer is that Scarlet’s animation system is the feature they seem genuinely proud of, and it is the reason the physics look the way they do. The Steam page specifically highlights that the team pushed the animation system to be as dynamic, expressive, and adorable as possible, using Unreal Engine animation tools to combine dozens of candid animations with logic-driven procedural movement.

That procedural layer is what allows Scarlet to respond dynamically to in-game conditions rather than cycling through pre-baked animation clips. It is a legitimately interesting technical pitch, and in a different viral cycle it might have been the headline feature. In this one, it is the reason everything jiggles.

Where To Play Scarlet Skips

Scarlet Skips is listed on Steam with a wishlist button live, though no firm release date or price has been confirmed on the store page at the time of writing. Yerk has not indicated platforms beyond PC, and given the scope and one-button design, a mobile port would be an obvious fit if the current momentum holds.

Whether the viral wave translates into actual wishlists and eventual sales will tell a broader story about how indie games break through in 2026. The attention is real, but a lot of it is ironic, and the gap between a million impressions and a paying customer is wide. If Scarlet Skips lands well mechanically when it launches, it has a genuine shot at converting the joke traffic into a real audience. If not, it will be remembered as a meme trailer that briefly owned a weekend.

The post Jump Rope Roguelike Scarlet Skips Is Going Viral, And Its Jiggle Physics Are Doing The Heavy Lifting appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Traysia, a mostly forgotten 1992 Sega Genesis JRPG developed by the now-defunct Telenet Japan, is making a surprise comeback on modern platforms. Publishers Ratalaika Games and Shinyuden have confirmed the game will launch on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on April 24, 2026.

A Deep Cut From The Mega Drive Library

For those unfamiliar, Traysia (known as Minato no Traysia in Japan) is a traditional fantasy RPG that follows a young adventurer named Roy as he leaves his hometown to explore the world. The game’s story is told across five scenarios, blending classic party-based RPG mechanics with a romance narrative centred on Traysia, a girl who waits for Roy’s return in their home port town of Johanna.

The game originally launched on the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 in Japan before receiving a North American localisation from Renovation Products for the Genesis. To put it kindly, it was not well received. The Japanese magazine Famitsu scored it just 13 out of 40, while Beep! Mega Drive Magazine gave it 5.25 out of 10. The North American release fared roughly the same, and UK publication Sega Pro singled out the game’s poor graphics and shallow gameplay in an import review from 1993. German outlet Video Games compared it unfavourably to far stronger Mega Drive RPGs of the era, including the Phantasy Star series and Shining in the Darkness.

Not Its First Revival

Despite that underwhelming reception, Traysia has quietly experienced a second life in recent years. The game appeared in Evercade’s Renovation Collection 1 back in 2022, and then received a brand new physical cartridge release in 2025 courtesy of Shinyuden, Ratalaika Games, and Edia. That physical re-release featured a redone English translation along with an all-new Spanish language option.

The upcoming digital release appears to be based on that 2025 version. The Steam page lists Spanish as an available language alongside English and Japanese, which strongly suggests it carries over the updated localisation work rather than shipping with the original, rougher translation.

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Modern Quality-Of-Life Features

As with most retro re-releases from Ratalaika, this version of Traysia comes bundled with a set of emulation-based convenience features designed to smooth out the rougher edges of a 30-plus-year-old game.

• Rewind and Turbo functions let players undo mistakes or speed through slower sections at will.
• Save states allow saving and loading at any point, removing reliance on the original save system.
• Screen filters offer visual options including retro-style monitor effects and a black-and-white mode.
• Cheats such as infinite lives and invulnerability are available for those who just want to experience the story.
• A gallery features artwork from the original game’s manual and box design.
• A jukebox provides access to all 21 music tracks composed by Shinobu Ogawa, who also worked on the Valis series. The soundtrack is widely considered one of the game’s few genuine highlights.

Pricing And Availability

Traysia launches across all platforms on April 24, 2026. A price has not yet been announced, and the PlayStation Store page has yet to go live at the time of writing. The game is already available to wishlist on Steam for those keen to grab it on PC at launch.

Whether Traysia deserves a second chance is genuinely debatable, but the quality-of-life additions and updated translation at least give curious players a far more accessible way to find out for themselves. For retro RPG enthusiasts and Mega Drive collectors, it is an interesting curiosity if nothing else.

The post Traysia, the Obscure 1992 Sega Genesis RPG, Is Getting a Modern Re-Release This Month appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Valve has rolled out a significant visual refresh to the Steam store homepage, and it is available right now if you opt into the Steam Client Beta. Rather than pulling an April Fools’ prank, the company quietly pushed out a redesign that genuinely improves how the storefront looks and functions, with higher resolution artwork, new discovery features, and a wider layout for modern displays.

The update follows on from the game page improvements Valve made a few months back, continuing a broader effort to modernise how players browse and discover titles on the platform. It applies to the desktop client, Steam Deck, and Big Picture mode.

What The Steam Store Refresh Actually Changes

The core goal here is cohesion. Over the years, Valve has bolted on new sections and discovery tools piecemeal, and the store homepage had started to feel a bit disjointed. This refresh pulls everything into a more consistent visual language while still letting each section do its own thing.

Overall Design Refresh

The Featured and Recommended section has seen the most notable upgrade. It now shows more detailed reasoning for why a game is being surfaced to you, alongside a user review roundup.

Hover over a game’s cover art and a micro-trailer plays automatically, giving you a quick look at the gameplay without clicking through. Valve has also added a sneak peek of adjacent games in the carousel, so you can see what is coming next without scrolling.

For anyone with motion sensitivity, the micro-trailer hovers and animated marketing assets can be switched off entirely in Store Settings.

Disabling Microtrailers

New Sections And Discovery Improvements

Two new sections have been added to the homepage. The first is a Your Wishlist section, which highlights discounted games from your personal wishlist. The second is DLC for Your Games, surfacing discounted DLC for titles already in your library. Both are practical additions that save you from having to dig through sale pages manually.

New Sections

The Discovery Queue has also been reworked. It now opens as a transparent overlay on the main page rather than pulling you into a separate view, which makes browsing through it noticeably quicker.

Updated Discovery Queue

The Discounts and Events section uses larger game artwork, and hover states across the store now display a short game description with improved contrast and legibility.

Discounts & Events

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Higher Resolution Art And A Wider Layout

One of the less flashy but genuinely appreciated changes is the move to higher resolution game art throughout the store. If you are running a higher resolution monitor, the homepage is now wider and more responsive, making better use of your display’s real estate. The difference is subtle at a glance but quite noticeable when compared side by side with the old layout, particularly on 4K screens where the previous design left a lot of empty space.

Infinite scroll has also been refreshed to bring it in line visually and functionally with the rest of the redesigned sections.

How To Try The New Steam Store Homepage

The redesign is currently in beta, so you will need to opt in through the Steam client to see it. Open your Steam settings, select the Interface tab, and under Client Beta Participation, choose Steam Beta Update from the dropdown. Steam will restart and download the beta client automatically. If you want to switch back later, follow the same steps and select No Beta instead.

Valve has not confirmed when the refresh will roll out to all users. That timeline will depend on feedback and data from the beta period, and the company is actively encouraging testers to share their thoughts through their feedback channels.

The post Steam Store Gets a Visual Refresh With Better Game Discovery and Micro Trailers appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If you’ve ever wondered why a game costs wildly different amounts depending on where you live, Valve Corporation has finally stepped in with a fix, or at least a better system to handle it.

A new Steam update introduces improved regional pricing tools for developers, aiming to make game prices fairer across 35 currencies and multiple regions. While the changes are aimed at developers behind the scenes, they could have a noticeable impact on what players actually pay.

Steam Updates Regional Pricing Tools Across 35 Currencies

At its core, the update refreshes Steam’s pricing conversion data to better reflect current global market conditions. That might sound minor, but it addresses a long-running issue where prices in some regions didn’t align with local economies.

Steam already supports 35 currencies and 4 regional groupings, but many developers rely on its built-in tools to set prices rather than manually adjusting every region. Valve says the updated data is designed to help studios land on prices that better match local expectations.

Importantly, nothing changes automatically. Existing game prices stay exactly the same unless developers choose to update them.

Three New Ways Developers Can Set Prices

Alongside the updated data, Valve has introduced three different pricing conversion methods, giving developers more flexibility depending on how they want to approach global pricing.

Image Credit: Valve

Exchange Rate Conversion

This is the most straightforward option. It converts a USD price directly into other currencies using current exchange rates.

It’s simple and predictable, but it doesn’t account for differences in income or cost of living between countries.

Purchasing Power Conversion

This method looks at what people in a specific country can realistically afford, using public data about average purchasing power.

In practice, this can lead to lower prices in regions where incomes are lower, making games more accessible.

Multi-Variable Conversion

This is the most complex option, combining exchange rates, local purchasing power, and the cost of similar entertainment in each region.

Valve says this is closest to how its previous system worked, but now it’s more transparent and adjustable.

Developers can also mix these methods or ignore them entirely and set prices manually, depending on their strategy.

Why This Update Was Needed

The changes come after months of complaints from players in countries like Poland and Argentina, where games were sometimes priced 20 to 30 percent higher than their US equivalents after conversion.

That gap wasn’t just a rounding error, it became a consistent frustration for players who felt they were overpaying compared to other regions.

Some developers had already started fixing things themselves. Studios like Embark and Nihon Falcom manually adjusted prices across multiple regions, but that approach wasn’t scalable across thousands of games.

Valve’s update is essentially a system-level fix, giving developers better tools so they don’t have to guess or manually correct prices one by one.

What Players Should Expect Next

Even though the new tools are live now, players shouldn’t expect instant price changes.

Developers still need to actively update their pricing for the new system to take effect. That means any improvements will likely roll out gradually over the coming weeks or months as studios revisit their pricing.

There’s also a catch. If a developer increases a game’s price in any region, it triggers a 30-day cooldown before that game can go on sale again, which could delay when changes are applied.

Valve has confirmed it will also be updating prices for its own games as part of this rollout.

What This Means For Future Game Pricing

For players, this update could lead to more consistent and fair pricing globally, especially in regions that have historically paid more than expected.

For developers, it removes a lot of guesswork and replaces it with clearer data and flexible tools.

The bigger picture is that pricing on Steam is becoming more dynamic and data-driven. As market conditions change, so will the recommendations behind the scenes, which means game prices might become more fluid over time rather than staying fixed for years.

The post Steam Pricing Update Adds New Regional Tools, Could Change Game Prices Worldwide appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If you’ve been waiting to try Bungie’s new extraction shooter, the Marathon Server Slam is almost here. The open preview weekend runs from February 26 at 10 AM PT through to March 2 at 10 AM PT, giving players a few days to jump in before the full launch on March 5.

This Server Slam isn’t just a casual beta. It’s a global technical stress test for Marathon, designed to push the game’s infrastructure at scale for the first time. In short, Bungie wants as many of us logging in, forming crews, infil-ing and exfil-ing as possible so they can see what breaks before launch day.

Marathon Server Slam Release Date And Platforms

The Marathon Server Slam begins February 26 at 10 AM PT and ends March 2 at 10 AM PT. It will be available worldwide.

You can play on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Cross-play and cross-save are enabled, so you can squad up with mates across platforms and carry your account between them. Importantly, you do not need to purchase Marathon to access the Server Slam.

Console players also won’t need PlayStation Plus during the preview weekend. However, once Marathon fully launches on March 5, a paid online subscription will be required on console.

Preloading will not be available for the Server Slam. Bungie says this is to help manage server load when everything first goes live. Preloading will return for the full launch.

What Makes This A Server Slam

Bungie has been running smaller monthly playtests, but this is the first time all systems are being switched on globally.

Because it’s a stress test, players should expect login queues, disconnects, error codes, and even short-notice maintenance downtime. The goal is to “slam” the servers with as many active players as possible to gather telemetry and fix issues before March 5.

This also means the weekend may feel less stable than launch. Bungie has been upfront that things might break, and that’s very much the point.

Maps And Zones Available During Server Slam

• Perimeter, an edge-site expansion on the colony’s outskirts
• Dire Marsh, the colony’s agricultural research hub

These represent two of the four launch zones. The late-game areas Outpost and Cryo Archive will only be available once Marathon fully launches and Season 1 begins.

The Server Slam is described as a slice of the launch experience. It’s enough to get a feel for the pacing, gunplay, contracts, and progression systems, but not the full package.

Factions, Contracts And Progression

Five factions will offer early contracts during the preview:

• CyberAcme
• NuCaloric
• Traxus
• MIDA
• Arachne

Players can progress through early faction levels and upgrade trees for each of these. The sixth faction, Sekiguchi Genetics, will only unlock at launch.

While you can level up and experiment with upgrades, your overall progression will not carry over to the full game. Instead, your playtime translates into launch rewards.

Runner Shells And Playstyles

The Server Slam includes five of the six Runner shells planned for launch, plus Rook, described as the scavenger experience.

Available shells include:

• Destroyer
• Assassin
• Recon
• Vandal
• Triage

The sixth shell, Thief, will be added at launch alongside Ranked mode and expanded end-game content.

Players can run solo, drop in as a crew, or even form temporary alliances using proximity chat. And yes, you can betray those alliances just as quickly.

Marathon Server Slam Rewards And Arrival Caches

Even though progression resets, Bungie is offering exclusive rewards for participating.

Complete the introductory mission and you’ll unlock a unique Beta.exe emblem and Complex Study player background. These cosmetics are exclusive to Server Slam participants.

Beyond that, your progress unlocks Arrival Caches that will be delivered when Marathon launches on March 5.

Complete your first mission to earn the Standard Arrival Cache, which includes standard implants, Runner shell cores, weapon chip mods, and weapons like Overrun and Hardline.

Reach Runner Level 10 and you’ll unlock the Enhanced Arrival Cache, which upgrades your loot pool with enhanced implants, additional shell cores for each shell, enhanced weapon chip mods, and weapons such as the Enhanced Magnum and Enhanced Hardline.

Hit Runner Level 30 and you’ll earn the Deluxe Arrival Cache. This includes deluxe and enhanced implants, deluxe and enhanced Runner shell cores for every shell, deluxe and enhanced weapon chip mods, weapons like the Deluxe Magnum and Enhanced Volley Rifle, plus an Enhanced Base Backpack.

All of these rewards will be delivered via the in-game mailbox after launch. Bungie notes that rollout may take time, and Twitch Drops can take up to 48 hours to appear and must be redeemed by March 31.

Twitch Drops During The Server Slam

If you prefer watching before jumping in, the Marathon Server Slam also features Twitch Drops.

By linking your Bungie and Twitch accounts and watching streams in the Marathon category during the event window, you can earn cosmetic rewards for launch. Rewards include a Twitch Sponsored Kit, the SMILEYworm emblem, WEAVEworm background, GLOWworm weapon sticker, and the HMG Twitch Engine weapon skin style.

Any stream under the Marathon category counts, making it easy to stack rewards while learning the maps.

What Carries Over And What Does Not

Your faction progress, inventory, and character levels from the Server Slam will not carry over to launch.

What does carry over are your earned cosmetic rewards and Arrival Caches. On top of that, the experience you gain learning Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and the faction systems will naturally give you an advantage on day one.

With launch set for March 5 and Season 1 bringing additional zones, Ranked mode, the Thief Runner shell, and deeper progression, the Marathon Server Slam feels less like a simple beta and more like a final systems check before everything goes live.

For players curious about how Marathon actually feels to play, this weekend is the first large-scale chance to find out.

The post Marathon Server Slam: All You Need To Know About Dates, Rewards And Content appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Valve is being sued by the New York Attorney General over loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2, with the state alleging the systems amount to illegal gambling.

In a 52-page civil filing submitted to the New York State Supreme Court, Attorney General Letitia James claims Valve’s loot box mechanics violate the state’s Constitution and Penal Law. The lawsuit argues that players, including minors, are being encouraged to spend money for a random chance at valuable virtual items, something the state says crosses the line into gambling.

What The New York Lawsuit Alleges

The filing specifically points to loot box systems in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. In Counter-Strike 2, players purchase keys, typically priced at US$2.49, to open cases that contain randomly determined cosmetic items such as weapon skins. The complaint directly compares the animated case-opening sequence to a slot machine, noting the spinning wheel that lands on a selected item.

The state argues that Valve intentionally makes certain items far rarer than others, increasing their perceived and real-world value. While most items are low value, rare skins can sell for thousands of dollars, and one Counter-Strike skin reportedly sold for more than US$1 million in 2024.

A Multi-Billion Dollar Skins Economy

The lawsuit also highlights the scale of the Counter-Strike skins market. In March 2025, reports indicated the market for Counter-Strike skins had surpassed US$4.3 billion, attracting not just players but also traders and speculators treating digital items as investment assets.

Through the Steam Community Market, users can sell skins for platform credit, which can then be used to purchase games, hardware or other digital items. The Attorney General’s office further claims Valve “facilitates and even assists” third-party marketplaces, where skins can be sold directly for real money.

This secondary market is central to the state’s argument. The filing claims players are effectively paying for a random chance at prizes that hold real monetary value, which New York law considers a defining element of gambling.

Focus On Minors And Addiction Concerns

Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement, “Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious addiction problems, especially for our young people.”

The complaint alleges that Valve has “made billions of dollars” by allowing children and adults to gamble for valuable virtual prizes. It frames loot boxes as part of a broader pattern of addictive online systems targeting younger audiences. The Attorney General’s office has previously taken action against social media platforms and illegal online casinos, and now appears to be expanding that scrutiny to game monetisation models.

The state also references studies suggesting early exposure to gambling-like mechanics can increase the risk of addiction later in life. In its view, loot boxes represent what it calls a “quintessential gambling” model that is prohibited under New York law, outside of specific exceptions that it argues do not apply here.

What New York Is Asking The Court To Do

The lawsuit seeks wide-ranging remedies. Among them are:

• Permanently blocking Valve from violating New York’s Constitution and Penal Law
• Forcing Valve to account for money lost by New York consumers
• Ordering full restitution and damages
• Requiring Valve to disgorge profits earned from the alleged illegal practices
• Imposing a fine of three times the amount of gains from the practice
• Awarding costs and any other relief the court deems appropriate

In short, the Attorney General wants the loot box mechanics removed and financial penalties imposed if the court agrees they constitute illegal gambling.

As of publication, Valve has not issued a public response to the lawsuit.

The Broader Loot Box Debate

Loot boxes have sat in a legal grey area for more than a decade. Different countries have taken different approaches. China and South Korea require companies to disclose item drop rates. In Australia, loot boxes automatically result in an M rating, while simulated gambling elements can push a game to R18+, restricting sales to minors. Belgium has attempted to ban loot boxes entirely, though enforcement has proven complex.

For Valve and the wider industry, this New York lawsuit could become a pivotal case in the United States. If the court sides with the Attorney General, it may increase pressure on publishers to rethink or significantly alter loot box systems for the US market.

With billions of dollars tied up in cosmetic economies and live service monetisation, the outcome could shape how games like Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 operate for years to come.

The post New York Sues Valve, Says Loot Boxes Are Gambling In CS2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If you’ve been wondering just how big Roblox really is in 2025, the latest numbers are genuinely staggering. According to Matthew Ball’s State of Video Gaming 2025 report from Epyllion, Roblox recorded just over 10 billion monthly hours of playtime in 2025, compared to roughly 5 billion on Steam and just over 4 billion on PlayStation. That means Roblox was played more than PlayStation and Steam combined.

That is not a slight edge either. The gap of more than a billion hours signals a real shift in where players are spending their time.

Roblox Engagement Hits 10 Billion Monthly Hours

For comparison, Steam reached just over 5 billion monthly hours, while PlayStation recorded just over 4 billion. Combined, that brings Steam and PlayStation to roughly 9 billion monthly hours, still short of Roblox’s total.

An earlier breakdown of the same report notes that by the end of 2024, Roblox had already surpassed major console platforms in daily active users. In 2025, those daily active users increased by a further 69 percent year on year, reinforcing that this is not a one-off spike but sustained growth.

It is worth noting that PlayStation’s engagement data cited in the report comes from 2024. However, platform engagement trends tend to remain relatively consistent year to year, making it unlikely that PlayStation alone could close a billion-hour gap.

Individual Roblox Games Compete With Major Franchises

One of the most eye-opening slides in the report highlights how individual Roblox titles are now competing with some of the biggest names in gaming.

For example, Fortnite averages around 0.86 billion monthly hours of engagement. Meanwhile, the Roblox experience Grow a Garden reached approximately 0.71 billion monthly hours across a ten month period. That places a single Roblox game not far behind one of the largest live service titles in the world.

Even more surprising, Grow a Garden’s engagement figure reportedly exceeds the combined engagement of Blizzard Entertainment’s entire software lineup, which sits at around 0.69 billion monthly hours.

Another Roblox hit, Steal a Brainrot, has also attracted massive concurrent player numbers and sustained activity. These breakout experiences scale rapidly within Roblox’s ecosystem, often without traditional marketing campaigns or boxed launches.

A Different Platform Model To PlayStation And Steam

Part of what makes Roblox engagement so dominant is how the platform operates.

Unlike PlayStation and Steam, which rely heavily on major game launches to drive spikes in activity, Roblox functions as a continuous ecosystem. New experiences are released constantly, and viral hits can explode in popularity within days.

This constant turnover keeps players inside the platform rather than hopping between separate storefronts and releases. It also allows smaller teams to tap into Roblox’s global audience without the barriers that traditional publishing often brings.

The result is a platform that behaves less like a single game and more like a persistent digital space where trends shift quickly, but total engagement remains extremely high.

Gaming Attention Is Fragmenting

The broader State of Video Gaming report also points out that gaming overall is competing harder than ever with mobile apps and other forms of instant entertainment. Even within gaming, attention is fragmenting across platforms and ecosystems.

Against that backdrop, Roblox’s scale becomes even more striking. It is not just outperforming one console, it is outperforming two major ecosystems combined in terms of engagement hours.

That does not mean traditional platforms are disappearing. PlayStation and Steam remain hugely influential, especially for premium AAA releases. But when it comes to sheer time spent, Roblox is now the single most engaged gaming platform per month by a clear margin.

Roblox still faces well-documented challenges, from moderation concerns to platform governance issues. However, purely in terms of player engagement, the numbers show it has become one of the most dominant forces in modern gaming.

With user growth still climbing and viral hits continuing to emerge from within its ecosystem, it will be interesting to see whether any traditional platform can realistically close the engagement gap in the near future.

The post Roblox Played More Than PlayStation And Steam Combined In 2025 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A new report claims that Tencent was the undisclosed lead financial backer behind Highguard, the struggling free to play shooter from Wildlight Entertainment. The revelation comes as the game faces collapsing player numbers, layoffs at the studio, and mounting questions about its future.

For months, Wildlight had described Highguard as “fully funded” but declined to say by whom. Now, according to journalist Stephen Totilo at Game File, Chinese tech giant Tencent was the primary financial force behind the project.

Game File Report Names Tencent As Lead Financial Backer

In a report published on February 18, Totilo cited sources familiar with the matter who said Tencent was the “undisclosed lead financial backer” of Wildlight Entertainment. More specifically, the funding is said to have come through TiMi Studio Group, one of Tencent’s major internal studio groups.

Neither Tencent nor Wildlight Entertainment provided comment by press time, and both companies have so far avoided publicly confirming the financial relationship.

The secrecy around Highguard’s funding had become one of several lingering mysteries surrounding the studio, particularly as scrutiny increased following the game’s rocky launch.

Highguard’s Turbulent Launch And Rapid Decline

Highguard launched on January 26 and initially looked promising, peaking at nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. According to SteamDB data, that number has since fallen dramatically to just over 1,500 to 2,000 peak concurrent players.

The game also received mixed to largely negative user reviews, with players criticising progression systems and overall balance. Despite post launch updates, including the introduction of a 5v5 mode and a ranked mode in Episode 2, the player base has continued to shrink.

In recent weeks, multiple former developers publicly shared that they had been laid off. Wildlight later confirmed it had let go of “a number” of staff, leaving a smaller core team to continue supporting the game.

Website Taken Offline Amid Ongoing Changes

Adding to the uncertainty, Highguard’s official website was briefly taken offline. Users attempting to access it were redirected to a support email. A developer later explained in the game’s Discord that the site was being transferred and simplified, calling it a low priority compared to in game updates.

Wildlight operates out of Los Angeles and Seattle, and prior to the layoffs reportedly had around 100 employees, including several former Respawn Entertainment developers. It remains unclear whether Tencent had any involvement in the studio’s decision to reduce staff.

Tencent’s Broader Gaming Portfolio

Tencent is widely regarded as the world’s largest video game company by revenue. Its investment portfolio includes major titles such as PUBG Mobile and League of Legends, and it holds stakes in companies like Epic Games and Ubisoft.

Industry figures have noted that Tencent often seeds funding into studios without acting as a traditional publisher, allowing developers to retain independence and pursue their own publishing deals. That could explain why Wildlight consistently referred to Highguard as fully funded while avoiding disclosure of its backers.

Highguard was first revealed during The Game Awards 2025, with host Geoff Keighley reportedly offering the trailer slot for free. Tencent senior vice president Steven Ma is a member of The Game Awards advisory board, though no direct link has been confirmed between that and the funding arrangement.

What Comes Next For Highguard

With Tencent reportedly backing Highguard from behind the scenes, attention now shifts to whether additional financial support will continue as player numbers remain low.

Wildlight has outlined an ambitious year one roadmap, complete with seasonal updates and lore cinematics, but with a reduced team and dwindling player engagement, the path forward looks uncertain.

Until Tencent or Wildlight publicly confirm the partnership, the funding details remain based on reporting from sources familiar with the matter. Still, the report adds a significant new layer to the ongoing story of one of 2026’s most turbulent game launches.

The post Highguard Funding Reportedly Backed By Tencent appeared first on Shane the Gamer.