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Shift Up Buys Unbound, Nintendo Patent Revoked, Crimson Desert

Apr 1, 2026 · 13d ago

The gaming industry is navigating its usual minefield of April Fools' Day pranks today, but behind the fake announcements, some massive real-world shifts are taking place. From a major studio acquisition in Japan to a significant legal setback for Nintendo, today's news cycle is no joke.

Stellar Blade Developer Shift Up Acquires Shinji Mikami's Unbound

Stellar Blade's Shift Up Buys Shinji Mikami's New Studio UnboundResident Evil director Shinji Mikami partners with Stellar Blade devs Shift Up to make "smaller, experimental titles alongside a large-scale flagship"TechRaptorRock Paper Shotgun Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has officially acquired Unbound, the new Tokyo-based studio founded by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. The South Korean company will now publish and support all future titles from the horror veteran's team, uniting Mikami and Stellar Blade director Hyung-Tae Kim under one corporate roof TechRaptorPush SquareThis Week in Video Games.

Mikami, who established Unbound in 2022 after departing Tango Gameworks, confirmed he will be fully involved on-site to direct a large-scale flagship game for PC and consoles. The studio also plans to develop smaller, experimental titles alongside its primary blockbuster project Rock Paper ShotgunIGNGame Developer.

US Patent Office Revokes Nintendo's Pokémon Battling Patent

Nintendo's 'Summon Character To Fight' Patent Rejected By US Patent OfficeUS patent office revokes Nintendo’s patent on summoning characters to make them battleNintendo LifeVGC Nintendo has suffered a significant setback in its ongoing legal battle against Palworld developer Pocketpair, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office has revoked its controversial character-summoning patent. The USPTO rejected all 26 claims made in the patent, ruling that the mechanics of summoning a character to fight were "obvious" Nintendo LifeRock Paper ShotgunThis Week in Video Games.

This decision is currently non-final, giving Nintendo a two-month window to respond and argue its case before the ruling becomes permanent. The patent was originally granted in September 2025 before the USPTO director ordered a rare re-examination late last year VGCIGNPC Gamer.

Crimson Desert Surpasses 4 Million Sales in Two Weeks

Crimson Desert Sells 4 Million Copies in 2 Weeks as Pearl Abyss' Open World Action Adventure Continues Its Hot Streak'No Mode Is Properly Optimised on Base PS5': Crimson Desert's Console Performance a 'Mixed Bag'IGNPush Square Pearl Abyss's massive open-world action RPG Crimson Desert has crossed 4 million copies sold less than two weeks after its launch. The breakout hit continues to draw massive player numbers, with fans praising the game's emergent systems and highly interactive NPC AI IGNTechRaptorIGN.

While the game is enjoying massive commercial success, console players are experiencing a stark divide in technical performance. The base PlayStation 5 version struggles with optimization issues, but the PlayStation 5 Pro edition delivers a massive leap in visual fidelity and frame rates thanks to PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Push SquareDigital Foundry. Meanwhile, PC modders are already digging into the game's files, recently unearthing a fully designed but deactivated food consequence system IGN.

MindsEye Will Add In-Game Mission Exposing Alleged Studio Sabotage

"We know we had, without doubt, the worst launch in history" admits MindsEye boss as he says studio will share "evidence of sabotage" in-gameMindsEye's new mission will feature "evidence of the sabotage" the studio have faced, CEO claims - I double-checked and the quotes came before April FoolsEurogamerRock Paper Shotgun Build A Rocket Boy CEO Mark Gerhard has admitted that the controversial shooter MindsEye suffered "the worst launch in history," but the studio is taking an unprecedented approach to explaining why. Following the end of its publishing agreement with IO Interactive, the independent developer plans to release a new multiplayer update that includes an in-game mission containing "evidence" of alleged corporate sabotage EurogamerPush SquareGamesIndustry.biz.

Gerhard has repeatedly claimed that organized espionage and malevolent third parties contributed to the game's disastrous release. The CEO stated that an investigation into the sabotage is currently in the hands of authorities in both the UK and the US, though the studio intends to share its findings directly with players through the upcoming content drop Rock Paper ShotgunVGCPC Gamer.