Top Stories

Sony begins rolling out age verification for PlayStation in UK and Ireland (2 min read)

Sony is rolling out age verification on PlayStation in the UK and Ireland to comply with the Online Safety Act, with mandatory verification required by June 2026. Unverified users will lose access to chat, UGC, and streaming features — including in-game tools, which developers may need to update their implementations to support. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Forza Horizon 6 has reportedly pre-sold 500,000 copies on Steam a month before launch | News-in-brief (1 min read)

Forza Horizon 6 has reportedly hit 500,000 Steam pre-sales a month before launch, per Alinea Analytics. The firm suggests the title could outperform its predecessor at launch. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Studios & People

Kotaku hires Rebekah Valentine as Senior Reporter as site expands under new ownership (3 min read)

Kotaku hired former IGN and GamesIndustry.biz reporter Rebekah Valentine as Senior Reporter, its first major hire since French firm Keleops acquired the site in July 2025. Keleops says site traffic has doubled since acquisition, with more hires planned. (GamesIndustry.biz)

The Last of Us and Death Stranding actor Troy Baker has worked with Neil Druckmann, Hideo Kojima, and many more – Now he wants to create a studio and "tell my own stories" (5 min read)

Voice actor Troy Baker has expressed plans to build his own game studio, citing a desire to tell original stories and apply lessons from collaborations with Naughty Dog and Kojima Productions. No timeline has been confirmed. (GamesRadar)

Games & Releases

Fallout: New Vegas dev says don't expect a remaster, argues Bethesda doesn't have the source code or 'the engineering knowhow' (7 min read)

Fallout: New Vegas writer Chris Avellone says a remaster is unlikely because Bethesda lacks both the source code and the engineering expertise to rebuild it. The game was developed by Obsidian, not Bethesda, complicating any revival effort. (PC Gamer)

Smilegate Announces New Console RPG Project "Orpheus" (18 min read) 스마일게이트, 콘솔 RPG 신작 프로젝트 ‘오르페우스’ 발표

Smilegate announced "Orpheus," a fantasy open-world console RPG unrelated to its Lost Ark IP. The project marks the company's first push into console gaming, with active hiring underway for sound and art roles. (Ruliweb (Console))

AI/Tech & Tools

AI Watermarking Catches 99% of Leakers: Naver Webtoon's Secret Weapon (7 min read) [테크체인저]유출자 99% 잡는 AI 워터마크…네이버웹툰의 비법

Naver Webtoon's AI watermarking system ToonRaider now identifies leakers with 99%+ accuracy, cutting same-day leaks for top titles by 80%. The sixth-generation system embeds invisible watermarks and uses ML to detect abnormal access patterns before leaks occur. (Bloter)

gg! see you in game!

— james