Gaming News Catchup - 25.06.2026

Hey all! I was thinking of trying to start a weekly segment about the gaming news that has caught my attention in the last week, alongside just my personal opinions about it all. A lot has been happening in the gaming scene and sadly, it's more bad than good at the moment, but hopefully, I can find you some happier news as well that can brighten your day. Okay, let's get into it!

1. GTA VI Pre-orders are now live!

After months of debate about what the pricing of GTA VI would be, with many reporting it would be a €100+ game, we finally have our answer and it is surprisingly good news! GTA VI pre-orders went live on 25.06.2026, with the Standard Edition being €79.99 (£69.99, $79.99) and the Ultimate Edition being €100 (£89.99, $100). The price is roughly €20 more compared to GTA V, which was priced at €59.99 at release. However, with most of us believing this game would encourage other companies to start selling standard editions at €100+, I think we all had a mini sigh of relief.

So, what do the versions get you? Well, rather interestingly, both versions are digital-only, with no physical version being released currently (we do believe a physical Collector's Edition is on its way, but it is not confirmed yet). You will be able to buy steelbooks and cases, but only a digital code will be inside. I have to admit, no physical version is annoying for me as I am trying to start regrowing my physical games collection after selling them all when moving countries, but I am not too mad at it. Both versions will only include the single-player experience on release, with the online mode coming later. This is perfect for me, as I may only play a few hours online with the majority of my time being spent in the single-player mode, so yeah, totally fine with that. Now, the differences:

Standard Edition (€79.99)

- Base Game

Ultimate Edition (€100)

- Base Game

- '95 Grotti Cheetah (Car)

- Hawk & Little Morgan Revolver (Weapon)

- Personalised Weapon Variants (Weapon Cosmetics)

- Vice City Styles (Outfits + Cosmetic Pack)

- Jason Safehouse Vehicles:

            °Ganado Retro Build (Car)

            °Dinka Enduro (Motorbike)

            °Crest Kayak (...Kayak)

- Rideout Custom Mod Shop (Vehicle Mod Shop)

- Sara Unisex Salon (Hair Shop)

- Shitzu Squalo (Boat)

- Stock 305 Clothing Store (Clothes Shop)

- '67 Vapid Dominator Buggy and Garage (Buggy + Garage)

- Electric Fang Tattoo Parlor (Tattoo Shop)

- One-Eyed Willie Mod Shop (Vehicle Mod Shop)

- Goodtime Gear (Outfit + Cosmetic Pack)

- PTT Youngin$ Compound (Additional Mission)

- Classic Car Collection (Additional Mission)

If you Pre-Order either version, you will receive:

- Vintage Vice City Pack (Outfits + Cosmetic Pack)

- 1955 Vapid Stanier (Car)

- Tropic Pattern Weapon Skin (Weapon Cosmetic)

Yeahhhhh, quite a bit of difference…

For me personally, it feels like for a €20 increase you get a complete package of a game, whereas the standard could feel make you feel a bit left out. Yeah, the majority of the stuff is cosmetic-based and I am certain there will be 100s of vehicles, clothes, cosmetics, and more to find, but for only €20 more, I feel like you get much more better package. So, if you can afford the extra 20, I would personally just go ahead with the Ultimate Edition. Plus, I always say €1 should be roughly one hour of gameplay for these an RPG, and I completely believe you can easily spend over 100+ hours in this game, so it would be worth it.

I have controversially said in the past that I am not sure if GTA VI will be as big of a hit as GTA V. Not because I don't think it will be a great game (honestly, I think it's a guaranteed GOTY winner in multiple categories), but I am just not sure if it can live up to the hype after GTA V. However, the more I watch, the more I believe this game will be incredibly special. I myself have gone from not so hyped to probably pre-ordering the Ultimate Edition in the next month or so; it just feels like they might surprise us all.

The game officially releases on November 19th, 2026, and I will be incredibly interested to see how many people take vacation for it (currently, 3 people at my work have the Thursday 19th and Friday 20th off... I would too, but I already have all my vacation booked). Hopefully, we get some more information soon about this game and what it actually brings to the table. I can't wait.

2. Xbox planning layoffs (Again)

Xbox, you just love to get my hopes up and then proceed to step on them over and over again. As mentioned in a previous post, I was really starting to like the change of trajectory Xbox had made in the last few months. Asha Sharma seemed to take hold of the leadership role and bring back what many Xbox fans have been asking for: Xbox exclusives, new consoles, going back to being true Xbox. They then followed this with maybe one of the best showcases in the last few years, and even offered every fan there a free limited-edition classic Xbox green Xbox Series X, alongside apparently an incredibly luxurious press experience where they were offering free gear and personalised engraved bottles.

That part leaves an extremely sour taste in my mouth, as Asha has now announced that Xbox is not making enough money, so they need to do a "business reset" which will involve mass layoffs.

Xbox is currently operating at only a 3% profit margin (which for them is an estimate of $705 million dollars—on an estimated annual revenue of $23.5 billion dollars... doesn't seem so bad), which is a massive decline of around $500 million. This is apparently due to a mixture of large investments into acquiring studios (Activision Blizzard, Ninja Theory, Bethesda, etc.), slumping sales of Xbox games and hardware, and incredibly expensive hardware costs (which Xbox can just thank their big brother Microsoft for, due to them buying up any available RAM and storage for AI datacenters... thanks). This all accumulates, apparently, to one thing: they should do mass layoffs at the studios that can save them... yeah, doesn't make sense to me either.

This has already begun, apparently. At the time of writing this (25.06.2026), there are already reports of Compulsion Games (the studio behind We Happy Few and South Of Midnight... a GOTY-winning studio) laying off multiple developers, with possibly 90 employees being at risk. That's basically the entire workforce... so it could be that Compulsion Games is no more. There are also strong rumours that both Ninja Theory (the studio behind the Hellblade franchise... a GOTY-winning studio) and Double Fine (the studio behind Brütal Legend, the Psychonauts franchise, Rad... a GOTY-winning studio... you see where I am going with this?) could face mass layoffs as well. Apparently, there are questions about whether the studios are planning to split from Xbox and become independent again, but there is currently no proof of this.

I honestly don't know what Xbox needs to do to stay afloat. For me, it seems this is the worst time to do this; right after they have just put a positive spin on the Xbox name again, they follow it up by announcing they are going to do mass layoffs. This is also just after pulling off an event where multiple journalists have mentioned how lavish and over-the-top it was... it's just really poor taste and timing. I struggle to understand why they don't just put trust into the studios they have invested in (they reportedly spend $20.8 billion on acquiring studios AND THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE ACTIVISION BLIZZARD!) and just aim to make some really great Xbox-exclusive games that will convince people to either pick up Game Pass or purchase an Xbox. We don't need another console now (especially because it will cost €700+ in the current hardware climate), so ride the 3% profit margin and let it slowly increase by backing the studios, and then when it is more affordable, look at investing in consoles and expanding. 

I was really starting to like Asha and her Xbox image, but now she seems to have shot herself in the foot with this one. I am really sorry for all the developers who have lost or will lose their jobs because of corporate greed; I really hope you find something bigger and better! I honestly don't know who would want to work for Xbox or an Xbox studio right now, to be honest... sad.

 

3. Steam Machine Prices Revealed With Pre-orders Available

After months of speculation, the Steam Machine prices have finally been revealed, along with your chance to enter a raffle for a pre-order—and well, it's not great. The cheapest model (512GB with no controller) is currently priced at €1,039 (£879, $1,049), with the most expensive model (2TB with a Steam Controller) being priced at €1,428 (£1,208, $1,428). That is roughly double the price of a PS5, with less performance than both a PS5 and Xbox. Valve themselves seems to acknowledge this, with the announcement post for the Steam Machine pre-orders being more of a somber, accepting-defeat post than an encouraging one. They admitted that the original price point they were targeting is just not viable due to how expensive supplies such as RAM and storage are compared to previous years. They even mentioned how, at certain points during manufacturing, they weren't even able to purchase components due to the demand for them being so high. It seems now, sadly, the Steam Machine is more of a console supporter than a killer.

The main selling point for the Steam Machine was to finally have a console alternative that can play Steam games directly on your TV without the issues a normal PC can bring—basically, plug and play and the Steam Machine achieves this perfectly by having you plug it directly into your TV, press a button, and you are in your Steam library ready to game. It also has a nice small factor case; it looks premium, and I love the customisable plates you can put on the front of it to give it a personalised feel. However, the main issue seems to be its performance, with nearly all games apparently being able to perform better graphically and more consistently on a traditional console compared to the Steam Machine. I heard multiple reports of games like Cyberpunk and 007 First Light struggling to run smoothly on the steammMachine and even having to drop to low graphic settings for a smooth experience compared to higher graphics setting and better frame rate on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, which is a real shame.

For me personally, I was so excited when they first announced the Steam Machine. I am very much a lounge gamer; I love sitting on the sofa or bed playing games on my consoles or MSI Claw while chilling next to my girlfriend. However, I have a crazy large Steam library due to the incredible sales you get on there, and I would love to play some PC games on the big screen without having to compromise performance by trying to run it on my TV with my MSI Claw and dock. So, this seemed to answer all my problems. Sadly, the reality is that it's just not the case; it is too expensive for what I want from it and doesn't offer enough performance to make it worthwhile.

I do think, though, if someone out there is looking for an entry option to get into PC gaming, this could be for you. However if you are going to spend that sort of money, you might as well either go all out and get a gaming rig that is much better for just a bit more, or wait to buy a gaming rig during one of the big sales where you could get a better gaming PC for the same price. For me personally I think I'm gonna wait for the sales.

 

RELEASES NEXT WEEK

Okay, here are some of the big games coming out over the next week!

June 25 - Dead or Alive 6: Last Round - PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

June 25 - Star Fox - Switch 2

June 25 - Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - Switch 2

June 25 - Gecko Gods - Switch 2

June 25 - Abyssus - PS5, Xbox Series X/S

June 25 - Dorfromantik - Mac

June 26 - CARTAGRA - PC

June 28 - Dead Reckoning: The Long Drift (Early Access) - PC

June 29 - Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss - PS5, Xbox Series X/S

June 30 - The Anomaly Department - PC

July 1 - Attack on Titan 3 - PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2

July 2 - Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game - PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2

July 2 - Rhythm Heaven Groove - Switch

Well, that's all the news for this week, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think about it all, and I will catch you on the next one!

Cuppa