GTA 6 Skips PC, GameStop Eyes eBay, Star Fox Remake Revealed

May was a month of harsh realities and massive structural shifts for the gaming industry as major publishers finally left older hardware behind. While blockbuster franchises cemented their holiday launch plans and massive install sizes, unprecedented corporate acquisition attempts and a wave of live-service casualties served as a stark reminder of the market's ongoing volatility.

Grand Theft Auto VI and Call of Duty Leave Last-Gen Behind

IGNEurogamerGematsu Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed Grand Theft Auto VI will skip PC when it launches on November 19, prioritizing the core console audience on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S . Activision followed suit with a definitive hardware shift, announcing the 2026 Call of Duty entry will be the first in over a decade to completely drop PlayStation 4 and Xbox One support . The demands of current-generation hardware are also hitting storage drives, as Playground Games confirmed the upcoming Forza Horizon 6 requires a massive 160GB install on PC and 135GB on Xbox Series X ahead of its May 15 early access release . As the holiday release calendar takes shape, players should expect even more developers to abandon eighth-generation consoles to push modern technical boundaries.

GameStop Proposes Unprecedented eBay Acquisition

This Week in Video GamesPure XboxPC Gamer The secondary market for physical games and hardware faces a potential monopoly after GameStop officially proposed a staggering $55.5 billion acquisition of e-commerce giant eBay . The unprecedented bid aligns with ambitious corporate expansion plans to scale the aging video game retailer into a $100 billion powerhouse . Meanwhile, Microsoft is undergoing its own massive structural pivot, with newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma officially canceling the Xbox Copilot AI integration across console and mobile platforms to reduce friction for developers . If the GameStop merger successfully clears regulatory hurdles, it will fundamentally reshape how players buy and sell used gaming merchandise globally.

Live-Service Games Struggle as Preservation Legislation Advances

IGNPush SquareThis Week in Video Games The live-service market claimed another rapid casualty this month as Night Street Games halted post-launch development on its third-person hero shooter Last Flag less than a month after release . The virtual reality sector also took a heavy hit, with Alien: Rogue Incursion developer Survios reportedly laying off its entire development team and essentially shuttering the Los Angeles-based studio . However, consumer rights advocates secured a major victory as the Stop Killing Games movement saw the Protect Our Games Act pass a floor vote in the California State Assembly . The landmark preservation bill now moves to the State Senate, where it could eventually force publishers to leave online-dependent games in a playable state after server shutdowns .

Star Fox and Halo Lead a Wave of Classic Franchise Revivals

GematsuIGNEurogamer Nintendo thrilled fans with a surprise Direct presentation announcing Star Fox, a ground-up cinematic reimagining of the classic Star Fox 64 launching exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 25 . The PC RPG landscape is also looking to the past, with reports indicating Wizards of the Coast is in active development on an official remake of Baldur's Gate 2 following Larian Studios' departure from the franchise . Microsoft is reportedly adopting a similar strategy for its flagship sci-fi shooter, as credible leaks suggest Halo Studios has begun early development on full modern remakes of both Halo 2 and Halo 3 . With Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio also unveiling the ambitious Yakuza prequel Stranger Than Heaven, publishers are increasingly leaning on established nostalgia to anchor their upcoming release schedules .