Gaming News This Week: October 2026 Briefing

#Current Snapshot

The week of October 13 is the last quiet stretch before the holiday rush. Battlefield 6 joins Game Pass on October 13 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign opens to pre-order players on October 16, one week before the October 23 launch. Gears of War: E-Day and The Witcher 3 Remastered (94 on Metacritic, the top score of 2026 so far) still lead the conversation. On the business side, Ninja Theory layoffs continue as Xbox's restructuring goes on, and Grand Theft Auto VI is still dated for November 19 with pre-load opening November 12.

#This Week's Headlines

• Battlefield 6 hits Game Pass on October 13. Exactly a year after its October 10, 2025 launch, EA's shooter comes to Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Cloud ten days before Modern Warfare 4 ships. Ultimate members also get the Deployment Pack and Season 5 EA Play Pack. Valor Mortis and Deep Dish Dungeon join the service the same day.
• Modern Warfare 4's campaign early access opens October 16. Pre-orders of the Standard Digital or Vault Edition on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Xbox app, Battle.net, Steam) and Switch 2 can play the campaign seven days early. Multiplayer and the other modes launch with the full game on October 23. Call of Duty hasn't offered this perk in two years.
• The Witcher 3 Remastered is 2026's top-rated game (Metacritic 94). CD Projekt's September 29 remaster (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC) is free for existing owners and is also sold on its own. It beats the original's 92 and edges out Sektori (94), Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (91) and Big Walk (91).
• Gears of War: E-Day had the series' biggest PC launch (October 6). It peaked at about 31,000 concurrent Steam players on launch day, roughly three times Gears 5's 10,196 Steam record, and that count leaves out Xbox console and Game Pass players. Critics scored the campaign around 87-88. Early multiplayer interest centres on the new 3-team, 12-player Horde Siege mode.
• Ninja Theory layoffs continue (early October). Staff at the Hellblade studio have confirmed their roles are ending, after two deals to sell it fell through and Xbox opened UK closure consultation. Senua is still officially listed for 2027, but its future is uncertain.
• Phasmophobia passes 30 million copies sold (October 11). Kinetic Games announced the milestone as the Crimson Eye Halloween event returned (it runs until November 1). The game launched in Steam early access in September 2020.
• This week's big releases (October 13-16). Planet Zoo 2 and Valor Mortis (October 13), Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 and Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea (October 14), Castlevania: Belmont's Curse and The Jackbox Party Pack 12 (October 15), and Tales of Eternia Remastered (October 16). Famitsu gave Belmont's Curse 32/40 on October 7.
• GTA VI marketing: weekly Thursday drops. Rockstar published posts about Lucia's inspiration (around October 5) and the in-game radio stations (October 8). The GTA VI Collection is now in the Rockstar Store. Rumor: fans expect a third trailer on one of the coming Thursdays, but Rockstar has not announced one.
• Esports: LoL Worlds starts October 15 and the Valorant Champions final is October 18. In Shanghai, Vitality and 100 Thieves won their groups, LOUD swept Paper Rex 2-0 to open the playoffs, and all four Chinese teams went out in the group stage.

#GTA VI: Confirmed vs. Speculation

#Confirmed by Rockstar/Take-Two

• Release date: November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only. No PC version has been announced; historically, PC versions have followed 12-18 months later.
• Pre-load opens November 12.
• Setting and characters: the state of Leonida, centred on a modern Vice City, with protagonists Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos.
• Marketing so far: two reveal trailers, the roughly 27-minute Extended Look that premiered on Netflix in August, Game Informer's September 29 cover story, Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, and October Newswire posts on Lucia and the radio stations.

#Not confirmed, so treat it as rumor or speculation

• A third trailer. Fans expect it on a Thursday because of Rockstar's posting pattern, but nothing has been announced.
• Anything from the 2022 leak. That footage came from an early build and may not match the shipping game.
• GTA Online's post-launch plans, which Rockstar has not announced.
• Recurring "delay" talk. The November 19 date has not changed.

#Releases So Far This Month (October 2026)

#Gears of War: E-Day (October 6 | Xbox Series X|S, PC; Game Pass day one)

The Coalition and People Can Fly's prequel about Emergence Day, starring young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago. The campaign scored 87-88, and the game set a series record on Steam.

#Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve (October 2 | PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Scored 87-88, the best-reviewed Ace Combat since Ace Combat 04, and set a Steam record for the series.

#Star Wars: Galactic Racer (October 6 | PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

An arcade podracer with roguelite runs.

Also out: Kingdom Hearts Collection I-III (October 8), Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival (October 8), Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen (October 9), and Sifu on mobile and Spy Drops Gaiden (October 12).

#Still to Come This Month

#What's Coming: November-December 2026

#World of Warcraft: Forever (November 4)

Blizzard's separate, alternate-timeline WoW.

#The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (November 5 | Switch 2)

A full remake.

#Metaphor: ReFantazio (November 12 | Switch 2)

#Grand Theft Auto VI (November 19 | PS5, Xbox Series X|S)

Pre-load opens November 12.

#Monster Hunter Wilds (December 4 | Switch 2)

#Attack on Titan 3 and Professor Layton and the New World of Steam (December 10)

#Path of Exile 2 1.0 (December 11 | PC, PS5, Xbox)

#The Game Awards 2026 (December 10)

Nominees are expected in mid-November.

#Industry Upheaval

#Xbox's restructuring continues

This year Xbox cut 1,600 jobs in July and spun off or sold Undead Labs, Double Fine and Compulsion. On September 22 it cut 268 more, mostly at Halo Studios. Ninja Theory is the latest studio affected. Microsoft has flagged further cuts through fiscal 2027.

#Skydance now owns Warner Bros. Games

Paramount Skydance's $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery closed on October 6. Warner Bros. Games is being merged with Paramount's games operation. No games restructuring has been announced yet.

#EA is now private

The $55 billion take-private led by Saudi Arabia's PIF has closed. EA has told debt investors it plans about $700 million a year in cost cuts.

#Smaller deals

On October 13, EDTK agreed to buy a 70% stake in URAY, a casual game developer based in Singapore.

#Hardware and Technology

#RTX 50 Super: still unannounced (rumor)

Leakers expect a launch by the end of 2026 with up to 24GB of GDDR7 memory. Nvidia has confirmed nothing, and earlier rumored dates (CES 2026, October) passed without a launch.

#The memory crisis

Shortages of DRAM, driven by demand from AI data centres, are still pushing up console and GPU prices. New fab capacity isn't expected until 2027.

#PS6

Not announced. Most of the "leaks" going around are unreliable.

#The Best-Reviewed Games of 2026 So Far

#Key Developments to Monitor Over the Next 60 Days

#October

• How players react to MW4's campaign early access (October 16), the launch on October 23, and the effect of Battlefield 6 arriving on Game Pass.
• The Valorant Champions grand final (October 18) and LoL Worlds (October 15 - November 14).
• Whether Ninja Theory is formally closed or sold.
• Reviews for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse.

#November-December

• Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19 (pre-load November 12).
• WoW: Forever (November 4) and Ocarina of Time (November 5).
• The Game Awards nominees (mid-November) and the show itself (December 10).
• Path of Exile 2 1.0 (December 11).

#Last Updated: October 13, 2026

#Sources

• https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/10/09/next-week-on-xbox-new-games-for-october-12-to-16/
• https://callofduty.com/blog/2026/06/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-4-campaign-early-access
• https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/battlefield-6-aims-to-take-on-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-4-as-the-former-comes-to-xbox-game-pass-just-a-few-days-before-the-latters-launch
• https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/xbox-game-pass-october-2026-additions-3972621
• https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-witcher-3-remastered-is-now-the-highest-scoring-game-of-2026-on-metacritic/
• https://www.notebookcheck.net/Gears-of-War-E-Day-Steam-player-count-reaches-31K-topping-sales-charts-on-release-date.1418299.0.html
• https://www.tweaktown.com/news/113927/hellblade-studio-begins-layoffs-after-xbox-fails-to-secure-its-future/index.html
• https://www.explosion.com/220446/phasmophobia-passes-30-million-sales-as-crimson-eye-returns/
• https://nintendoeverything.com/castlevania-belmonts-curse-gets-first-review/
• https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire
• https://dotesports.com/valorant/news/vct-champions-2026-shanghai
• https://esports.gg/news/valorant/valorant-champions-2026-loud-paper-rex/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_video_games
• https://manilatimes.net/2026/10/13/tmt-newswire/globenewswire/skillful-craftsman-to-acquire-controlling-interestin-singapore-based-uray/2444625
• https://club386.com/nvidia-rtx-50-super-launch-rumour-2026/