The most essential PC gaming information tales in 2026

It’s a foul thought to foretell a yr’s value of Videogame Happenings when you are delirious with chilly, however one of many benefits of being delirious with chilly is that you simply turn into incapable of noticing that concepts are dangerous. In the transient interval earlier than I eat a bowl of cakemix and go to sleep, listed below are some fast opinions in regards to the Trends and Tribulations of 2026, principally primarily based on our reporting from 2025. The evergreen quick model: it is by no means too late to get again into novice dentistry.

Rockstar vs the unions

Goaded by years of consolidation, squeezed assets, mass layoffs and closures, sport builders proceed to be eager on forming unions. The authorized battle between Rockstar and round 30 unionised former GTA 6 builders will push the topic additional into the general public eye, and discover how working situations and the tradition of Rockstar inform what’s by far essentially the most anticipated videogame of the yr. Assuming it is not delayed once more to e.g. spite Ubisoft once they strategically shunt their rumoured new Far Cry sport into 2027. I’m hoping to see each some intriguing revelations about Rockstar, and a spread of important evaluation that dips beneath the routine sloganeering to make this topic fascinating to a bigger swathe of individuals.

Furore over Saudi Arabia’s buy of EA

Assuming it will get previous the regulators – and it is unlikely to fail, with Jared Kushner’s liquefying babyface on the ticket – the proposed $55 billion acquisition of EA will go away one in all North America’s oldest publishing operations wildly in debt and operated by a consortium dominated by the funding wing of a rustic that has journalists executed. The deal is because of shut within the first quarter of 2027, and will probably be topic to a lot scrutiny this yr – sure US senators and unions are calling for a federal investigation.

It’s probably the accompanying $20 billion debt will result in in depth reductions throughout EA, with cherished albeit struggling studios like BioWare dealing with an unsure future. It additionally stays to be seen whether or not the politics of the Saudi Arabian regime will probably be felt in subsequent EA video games, maybe particularly The Sims. As with suspicion of Chinese studios, we will count on some jingoistic reactions amongst pundits within the western Anglophone world: the aforesaid letter from US senators already smacks of hypocrisy in accusing Saudi Arabia’s rulers of utilizing EA as a propaganda platform – by no means thoughts that American corporations like Activision have spent years peddling celebrations of the US army to individuals abroad. Distinguishing the respectable criticisms from the reaction-fire will probably be an essential part of this story. In normal, that is going to be a yr for speaking in regards to the connections between massive videogame publishers and Saudi Arabia, a rustic trying to diversify its oil financial system and enhance its fame overseas.

A more healthy dialog about “adult” video games

While the cost processor crackdown on “NSFW”, “adult” and/or sexually themed video games continues, one end result has been a resurgent, more healthy dialog about portrayals of intercourse in video games. Compelled by the specter of delisting, sport builders and gamers have been obliged to reckon with sure habits about what is taken into account ‘acceptable’, whereas turning into extra aware of how ethical panics work, and of how sure teams might implement their views by working the triggers of notionally ‘impartial’ monetary methods. I’ve discovered the quantity of dialogue round, say, Horses (which is not a direct sufferer of the crackdown) inspiring, nevertheless irritating at instances. So a lot injury is completed when individuals refuse to speak about intercourse and fall again mechanically on an unstated false consensus.

Xbox to proceed circling the drain

As cheery RPS fanzine PCGamer recently listicled, Microsoft have had a disgraceful yr. They have reduce jobs, closed studios and cancelled initiatives whereas asserting document earnings. They are forcing generative AI uptake by means of their present huge management of PC working methods – the precept beneficiaries of this fait accompli will probably be buyers and the manager class, and even when you assume there are good outcomes to observe for the scruffers down in Sector 7G, it is best to take difficulty with the smug and condescending manner the instruments are being imposed by an organization that has purchased up a lot of its competitors. Microsoft are additionally an outfit with their palms dipped in blood: they proceed to work with the Israeli army throughout the latter’s conquest of Gaza, regardless of important divestments forward of a current and highly theoretical ceasefire, and have many different army partnerships that deserve wider consideration.

Speaking as a former Official Xbox Magazine author, I feel Xbox itself is all washed up. The enterprise hardly ever produces any genuinely fascinating work, regardless of the efforts of weirder outfits like Double Fine. It’s hamstrung by Greatest Hits considering – positive, why not remake Halo once more – and targeted on subscription progress and monetising the fruits of some gigantic acquisitions. It is as huge as it’s boring. Perhaps quixotically, I count on 2026 to be a yr during which extra builders and gamers attempt to transfer away from Microsoft Gaming and Xbox, whether or not by becoming a member of the BDS boycott or stepping into Linux or discovering different locations to promote their video games. Given how pervasive Microsoft’s applied sciences are, this will probably be fairly the journey.

Hopefully, the top of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

We are actually virtually 4 years into the deadliest battle on European soil because the Second World War, a Russian invasion preceded by years of false flag operations and imperial rhetoric. I want I may predict that the battle will finish this yr with Russia retreating to its borders and giving up on its ‘historic’ declare to Ukraine’s territory. This does not appear probably, given the info on the bottom and the Trump administration’s want to coddle Putin. But on the very least, I’m hoping for a correct ceasefire, and an opportunity for Ukraine’s many sport builders to sleep soundly at night time. An entire technology of Ukrainian video games are rising which can be inflected by expertise of the conflict, both working across the related large sensible challenges or immediately partaking with it.

RAMnarök continues

The generative AI craze is doing horrible issues to the provision of RAM, with value hikes and the closure of 1 main shopper model with a view to promote extra chips to “larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments”. Expect it to proceed, sayeth a Kingston rep, with costs remaining excessive nicely into 2026, and different {hardware} prices (together with the value of Valve’s new Steam Machine and the Steam Deck 2) anticipated to go up by affiliation. Unless…

The bursting of the genAI bubble?

My enthusiasm for the sight of Sam Altman being made to stroll Cersei-style by means of a metropolis of egg-throwing idea artists is countered by the conviction that if the genAI bubble does pop, we’re all going to endure. Save for the super-rich who get governments to bail them out, anyway. I’m no economist, however the naked info listed below are that an incomprehensibly large sum – as of late summer time 2025, Nvidia accounted for about eight p.c of the worth of your complete inventory market – has been collectively wagered on applied sciences which have but to comprehensively reveal their value, past being a boondoggle you possibly can wave across the workplace to reassure your investor associates that the Future Is Now. There are precedents in radio and aviation, however the promise that generative AI could be shoved into each stroll of life creates a daunting quantity of room for failure.

If you might be studying this on 1st January 2027 and scoring me 0/7, please take into account that about 90% of this text was written by a committee of rhinoviruses. Here are another phrases that deserve correct entries: World Cup, inflation, tariffs, China, Roblox, Fortnite, India, South America. Also, please learn the feedback, which I’m positive will probably be full of vastly extra substantial and correct items of soothsaying.

Alternatively, try GamesIndustry’s recent round-up of proper grown-up analyst predictions: this consists of some factors about consoles, cell gaming, and different realms of human endeavour which have by no means identified the radiance of a Rock Paper Shotgun editorial. It burns! It burns! Cakemix for now.