However, Hiegl’s use of the word “never” during a talk at ISC 2026 has been reported as being an exaggeration, and the executive was apparently talking about the state of the hardware industry for the next five years.

Recent surges in memory pricing largely come down to the fact that the major companies that make memory, like SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron, have signed large deals with AI companies to fabricate components and sell directly to them. This has left the rest of the world that relies on computer hardware in the lurch, with even Apple recently having announced a price hike for several of its devices.

Interestingly, just as the memory shortages had started ramping up, Micron had announced that it was pulling out of the consumer market entirely, and essentially shuttered its consumer line-up of storage and memory components sold under the Crucial brand. More recently, Micron’s chief business officer, Sumit Sadana, blamed companies like Apple for the current situation due to their aggressive pricing practices when sourcing components. “A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins,” said Sadana.

In the meantime, Microsoft recently announced that its Xbox Series X/S consoles will be getting another price hike. Kicking on from August 1st onwards, the Xbox Series S 512 GB model will be priced at $499.99, compared to its previous $399.99 price tag. The digital version of the Xbox Series X is going up from $599.99 to $749.99, while the disc drive version of the console is going up from $649.99 to $799.99. The Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black is being discontinued entirely.

“The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles,” said the company when it announced these latest price hikes. “Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make.”

In an effort to soften the blow for potential customers, Microsoft is also introducing a “Buy Now, Pay Later” option that gives buyers the ability to purchase an Xbox console and pay it off in interest-free monthly instalments.

Valve recently also admitted to not quite having the bargaining power it needed to negotiate better prices for the Steam Machine’s components. Engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat spoke about how they “would love to be able to make the Steam Machine more affordable and reach more people.” However, they noted that a price drop isn’t likely to happen soon.

Nintendo isn’t immune to these market conditions either, with price hikes hitting the Switch 2 in August.

Professor at NYU Stern School of Business and industry researcher Joost van Dreunen reiterated his previous thoughts on the matter, saying that the new price tag is “reserved for only a select few titles and franchises”.

“Gaming is increasingly becoming a luxury category,” van Dreunen explained. “Its economics have historically centered around a winner-takes-most model, and GTA 6 raises the bar again. Publishers who can clear it will pull further ahead, and those who cannot will have to compete on distribution instead, finding new channels, bundles, and pricing models to reach players the blockbusters don’t.”

Analysts had spoken about this shortly after pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 went live earlier this month. Among them was Kantan Games CEO Dr. Serkan Toto, who mentioned the fact that Take-Two Interactive had gone with higher price tags before.

“Why should it not become the trailblazer for the industry again? Jumping from $70 to $80 is a 14.3% price increase, which is quite a lot. It will very much depend on the game, but I can easily see some marquee titles going for this price, perhaps even this year, too.”

Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliot mentioned that publishers who aim for the $80 price tag without a game that is comparable in terms of cultural and commercial significance to Grand Theft Auto 6 or Mario Kart World are in for a rude awakening. He also noted that even Grand Theft Auto 6 doesn’t quite have the pricing power to go beyond the $80 ceiling.

“I think a lot of publishers are about to learn that the hard way,” said Elliot. “GTA 6 has more pricing power than any game on earth, and it still didn’t go above $80. If the biggest release in the industry’s history looked at the ceiling and chose not to break it, that should tell everyone else the ceiling is real, and they’ll smack their head on it. The danger is that publishers read ‘GTA is $80′ as a green light and push their own run-of-the-mill or new-IP games to $80, when the lesson is the opposite: even GTA didn’t think it could go higher.”

In the meantime, rumors have indicated that pre-orders for the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto 6 have been far outperforming the Xbox Series X/S version. The former is said to be beating the latter by a ratio of six to one. Despite this lead that the PS5 might have, Microsoft has clarified that Xbox has been seeing “record orders”.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is slated for release on November 19th. For more, check out our thoughts on why a new trailer is likely dropping soon.

As part of the strike, the employees at Ubisoft Barcelona have a few demands, with the most important ones among them being protection for their jobs and a mandate for continuity, which would ensure that the 51 affected employees are made permanent additions to the studio’s workforce. The job security demand involves a commitment to shield the employees from future layoffs for at least 5 years.

There are also a host of other demands by the employees, like following through on agreed-upon internal promotions that had been put on hold by Ubisoft, a reinstatement of the studio’s work-from-home policies, which involved allowing employees to work remotely for 60 percent of the month, and a formal review and unblocking of a salary improvement plan and social benefits packages for the workforce.

The announcement of this strike comes a few weeks after reports had indicated that Ubisoft would be undergoing restructuring that will result in around 380 employees being laid off. According to an internal memo sent out by Ubisoft’s leadership, the company claimed that it has been trying to evolve the company’s structure to “simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base, and strengthen the company for the long term.”

This led to around 165 employees being laid off at Ubisoft’s Winnipeg and Belgrade studios, and at the time, the company had seemingly begun consultations about a similar restructuring for Ubisoft Barcelona. This restructuring would refocus the studio on the Rainbow Six franchise.

“Changes are also underway across the global Publishing organization, to adapt how teams are structured and deployed, while maintaining a strong presence in key markets. Pending consultations, these decisions mean that up to 380 employees could be impacted.”

In its earnings report from May, Ubisoft had reported losses of around €1.3 billion (roughly $1.40 billion) for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, 2026. Net bookings across the company had also fallen by 17.4 percent year-on-year. These losses have likely played a major role in the company’s bid to reduce its spending through restructuring and mass layoffs.

As for its future, Ubisoft has warned investors that there will likely be losses of between 8 and 9 percent in the next fiscal year as well, amounting to roughly €500 million. In the following fiscal year, however, the company expects to see positive cash flow and profitability. The company has cited the upcoming releases of games that will include more ways for players to spend money as a source of these future profits.

In the meantime, Ubisoft is gearing up to release Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 9th.

Referring to details that he was told during the First Playable industry event in Italy, Jorjani recalls being told about the current Game Pass deal involving developers and publishers getting “the rug pulled out from under them.” Noting that he doesn’t think this to be the end of Game Pass by any means, Jorjani said that Xbox leadership is likely trying to figure things out for now.

“I was at a trade show in Italy, had some nice lunches, some nice dinners with industry colleagues, and word on the street was that loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals, i.e., you know, nothing was inked yet, but the deals were in advanced discussions. Everybody got the rug pulled out from under them,” recalled Jorjani.

“What does that mean? I mean, I think what that means is that I don’t think Game Pass is over. I mean, given that, the new incoming leadership have talked a lot about Game Pass and talked about…”

“I think they’re figuring it out. That’s my read anyway. But yeah, for the time being, it seems like Game Pass deal. Like we just did one at Kaboodle earlier in the year, and I get the feeling that it might have been one of the last ones that did.”

Game Pass has been a source of issues for Xbox since the company announced price hikes last year. While it announced earlier this year that it was lowering the prices at the expense of not bringing Call of Duty titles to the service on launch day, a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier indicates that the upcoming layoffs across the division might have been inadvertently fuelled by its need to populate the subscription service.

In a video, Schreier discussed how studios like Compulsion Games and Double Fine were encouraged to develop small-scale games that would help make Game Pass feel like a more attractive service. However, with Xbox’s more recent moves, he said that Microsoft is now essentially punishing studios simply for following orders.

“A lot of these studios made plenty of their own mistakes, but in a lot of ways they’re being punished today for following orders,” Schreier said. “For listening to what they were told a few years ago. And that is just a shame, and what is going to happen is pretty brutal. The word bloodbath has been thrown around among people I talk to who know about what’s going to happen. It’s going to be bad.”

The subscription service has also faced criticism from Moon Studios head Thomas Mahler, who said that it could have worked out well if Microsoft didn’t “slop out mediocre content like a factory.”

EA and Codemasters announced last year that F1 25 would be expanded with 2026 season content instead of receiving a traditional standalone F1 26 release. What ultimately led to that decision? And how did the idea of a 2026 Season Pack fit into the broader strategic reset for the F1 franchise, especially with the next full game now planned for 2027?

Both of these questions really come back to the same thing. Formula 1 has changed significantly over the last few years. The audience is larger, more diverse, and engages with the sport in different ways than it did even a few years ago. We felt it was important that the F1 franchise evolves alongside those changes.

As part of our long-term plans for the series, we made the decision to support F1 25 with a premium 2026 Season Pack rather than release a traditional standalone F1 26 title. We believe this approach allows players to keep enjoying F1 25 while experiencing the new teams, drivers, regulations and MADRING that will define the 2026 season.

It also allows us to take a longer-term approach to what comes next. While we’re continuing to support F1 25, we’re also able to focus on delivering the next major step for the franchise.

"It also allows us to take a longer-term approach to what comes next."

The 2026 season represents a major reset for Formula 1 itself, with new cars, new regulations, new teams, and new racing systems. From a development perspective, what was the biggest challenge in translating that into F1 25?

The new regulations for 2026 are the biggest overhaul the sport has had in quite some time. It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity, but yes, that certainly represented some sizable development challenges. The first of which was to understand what to expect from the racing experience and capturing that within the game. We kept a very close eye on the official paperwork, really making sure we understood the changes to ensure we could achieve the level of authenticity we wanted. The next aspect was communicating these changes to players. Some of the terminology now has drastically different meanings. For example in 2026, Boost mode is more akin to what was previously known as Overtake mode. The functionality of Overtake has a very different strategic effect in 2026.

Beyond the updated teams, drivers, cars, and sporting regulations, what would you say are the biggest additions players should expect from the 2026 Season Pack?

The driving itself. You as the driver must operate very differently from what you’re used to. To some players, the driving can be described ‘restricted’ but others call it strategic and we have managed to capture the essence of this in game. Smart driving and circuit knowledge is way more rewarding in these regulations.

The 2026 update introduces Audi and Cadillac to the grid. How much work went into representing these new teams authentically in terms of car identity, presentation, performance, and overall feel?

Representing a team in the game is a combination of close collaboration with the F1 teams and attention to detail from the Dev side, making sure every detail from the model to the performance accurately represents the sport.

MADRING is being introduced as a new Madrid-based circuit built for the 2026 season. What can players expect from its layout, rhythm, and racing style compared to the existing tracks in F1 25?

This year players will be able to experience the MADRING circuit before the real drivers will, before it’s even built. That took an incredible effort from our environment art team, digesting the CAD data we were provided and bringing it to life, so credit to them for making it happen.

To drive, the circuit itself is a high speed street circuit, but what sets it apart is the flowing nature and elevation changes. With the barriers nearby it’s a real driver’s circuit. It rewards accuracy and bravery. The fastest laps come from carrying speed through the flowing sections while remaining accurate enough to stay clear of the walls, which should make it both rewarding to master and exciting to race on.

"This year players will be able to experience the MADRING circuit before the real drivers will, before it’s even built."

The 2026 cars are lighter, smaller, and more responsive, with active aerodynamics playing a major role. How significantly does that change the handling model and moment-to-moment driving experience?

Those are all important factors, as are the slightly narrower tyre widths. Although the lap times are only around a second slower than the previous generation of cars, they achieve that performance in a very different way.

At times, the acceleration can feel incredibly intense, but the cars carry less speed through corners, particularly the faster ones, due to the relative reduction in downforce. One of the first things players are likely to notice is that the cars don’t feel quite as planted as the 2025-spec cars, which were comparatively stable and predictable.

Active aerodynamics and the new Overtake Mode appear to be among the biggest gameplay changes in the Season Pack. How do these systems alter race strategy, especially when it comes to attacking, defending, and energy management?

The racing they produce is also quite different thanks to the introduction of Active Aero, the revised Overtake Mode and the highly powerful Boost Mode. Wheel-to-wheel racing becomes more strategic, with drivers constantly balancing energy management against opportunities to attack or defend. There are often multiple ways to approach a battle, which creates a lot of interesting tactical choices throughout a race.

Of course, we were mindful that these new systems add complexity. That’s why we’ve included assists that can help manage elements such as energy deployment, allowing players to tailor the experience to their preferred level of involvement while still enjoying the unique character of the 2026 regulations.

Overtake Mode offers a major electrical boost when players are within range of the car ahead. How did the team approach balancing that so it feels powerful without becoming too easy to exploit?

Overtake Mode can be a powerful addition, but its effectiveness is tied to the same constraints and opportunities seen in Formula 1. We’ve replicated the key characteristics of the system, including the one-second activation window, the increased harvesting allowance and the revised deployment behaviour that enables greater electrical deployment at higher speeds.

As a result, it far from guarantees an overtake. Players still need to think carefully about when to use their available energy and how to position the car to maximise the benefit. That strategic element is a big part of what makes racing under the 2026 regulations so engaging.

"Overtake Mode can be a powerful addition, but its effectiveness is tied to the same constraints and opportunities seen in Formula 1."

The 2026 Season Pack requires fresh 2026 saves for Driver Career and My Team. Why was it important to separate 2025 and 2026 career progression rather than allow existing saves to carry over?

As with everything in game development, it’s about making the decisions that deliver the best overall experience for players. Throughout development we’re constantly making decisions about where our effort is best spent and what will have the biggest impact.

Supporting existing Driver Career and My Team saves is a much bigger piece of work than it might first appear, so for this release we made the decision to focus our effort on delivering the best possible 2026 Season Pack experience.

It’s always about making the right trade-offs to deliver the best experience for players.

In My Team, players now enter as the twelfth team on the grid because the official F1 grid expands to eleven teams in 2026. How does that change the structure and feel of the mode?

Honestly depends on what type of player you are. If you’re the type of player that enjoys a challenge and likes to fight their way from the back, catching one or two cars every lap, then this is a great season for you. Then on the other hand if you’re the type of player that likes to fight at the front, then beyond the new racing style and the first turns chaos, you won’t feel much different, but your focus will shift on how to defend while managing your energy.

Which modes will benefit the most from the 2026 Season Pack, and how different should players expect the experience to feel across Driver Career, My Team, Grand Prix, Time Trial, split-screen, and unranked multiplayer?

Any mode that is supported in the season back was selected because they had a unique experience to offer to our players.

Will the 2026 Season Pack include any platform-specific visual, performance, or technical improvements, or is the focus primarily on content, rules, handling, and gameplay systems?

We introduced PSSR 2 on the PlayStation 5 Pro, Updated to XeSS 3 for Intel GPUs on PC and included bug fixes and quality improvements to the F1 25 EGO Engine across rasterised, ray traced and path traced lighting.

While half of the top 10 list in the US were new releases for the month, the other half was made up of older games, like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, MLB: The Show 26, Crimson Desert, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and Mario Kart World.

When taking the whole year into account, Resident Evil Requiem continues to take the top spot for game sales in the US. It is followed by Crimson Desert in second place and MLB: The Show 26 in third place. Despite being a relatively new release, 007 First Light has managed to do incredibly well by taking the fourth spot for the entire year so far, followed by Forza Horizon 6 in fifth. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the only new release to have broken through the top 10 sales for the year, coming in at 7th place.

007 First Light ended up getting quite a few accolades for its performance in May 2026, being the best-selling PlayStation game for the month, as well as the highest “full game dollar sales” of any James Bond game in history.

All in all, Piscatella has reported that total video game spending in the US for May 2026 hit $4.2 billion, which marks a 3 percent increase over May 2025. By the time the month was over, the year-to-date spending was 4 percent higher than last year, coming in at $23 billion.

Interestingly, Piscatella has noted that consoles served as the primary platform for game spending in May 2026 in the US, with total spending having gone up by 25 percent compared to last year. When taking year-to-date figures, console content spending is 13 percent higher. PC and subscriptions haven’t fallen behind either, coming in at 15 percent and 11 percent year-on-year increases, respectively.

Piscatella has also revealed details about console hardware sales in the US for May 2026, noting that both PlayStation and Xbox haven’t been doing too well. While it was the first May faced by PlayStation since 2000, Piscatella has confirmed that May 2026 was the worst May for Xbox since Microsoft launched the division. While there are likely many reasons for console sales falling in this regard, Piscatella also brought up the fact that price hikes have led to consoles simply getting too expensive. Xbox, for example, saw a 22 percent increase in average hardware price since 2025. PlayStation, on the other hand, saw an increase of 33 percent year-on-year.

“Xbox is currently tracking a distant third in hardware sales among the major manufacturers. But they are getting more revenue from each unit sold, enough to make dollar sales grow in May despite the unit drop,” said Piscatella. “If that fits the definition of ‘working’ or not, I don’t know.”

May 2026 U.S. Projected Top 10 Best-Selling Games Ranked on Physical & Full Game Digital Dollar Sales (Excludes Mobile and Digital Add-On Content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.576Z

YTD 2026 U.S. Projected Top 10 Best-Selling Games Ranked on Physical & Full Game Digital Dollar Sales (Excludes Mobile and Digital Add-On Content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.577Z

Content – Console drove content spending growth in May. Total spending on console content increased by 25% compared to a year ago and is now 13% higher year-to-date. PC content (+15% versus a year ago) and subscription spending (+11%) also grew in May.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.585Z

Content – 007 First Light was May’s leader in full game dollar sales, debuting as the 4th best-seller of 2026 year-to-date. It also led all titles in full game dollar sales on PlayStation platforms in the month.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.586Z

He said that, along with looking at what kinds of live-service games it can release by working with first-party and third-party studios, PlayStation has also been looking into what it can do with some of the older live-service titles under its banner, like Helldivers 2. As for new releases, Nishino is excited about the upcoming release of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls on August 6th.

“We believe that live service games are content that attracts users on a global level, so we want to continue to revitalize the market through both first-party and third-party content,” said Nishino. “We are not only focusing on promoting new releases, but also considering what we can do with older titles in the medium to long term. Also, this year we are planning to release our own live service title, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and we hope everyone will enjoy it.”

When it comes to whether PlayStation has any plans to slow down or reconsider its live-service efforts, Nishino said that the company finds it “important to continuously provide something.”

“The genre itself is relatively new, and I think many people are trying various things, so we also want to continue to take on challenges within that context.”

Nishino also provided some more clarity on PlayStation’s plans for multi-platform releases for its first-party games. He said that the decision of whether or not a release should be exclusive to PS5 largely comes down to a few characteristics, like how many players need to be in the game for it to be considered a success. With this in mind, single-player games will largely be exclusive to PlayStation consoles, while multiplayer games, which need larger audiences, will come to PC as well.

“Originally, platform selection is determined based on the characteristics of each title,” explained Nishino. “If releasing on PC can maximize the gaming experience of a title, we will continue to consider it. Our main policy at the moment is that for single-player games developed as a first party, we will further refine the value of the gaming experience that we can provide on PlayStation, while for live service games, we believe it is also important to have more people play through online multiplayer, so we are considering PS5 and PC as the basic platforms for release.”

Discussing the future of PlayStation, Nishino explained that the company wants to “develop new game console experiences” by making use of new technologies that can “be used in various forms”. Interestingly, he also vaguely hinted at the possibility of the rumored handheld PS6 being in the works.

“PlayStation is strongly associated with playing on a living room TV, but we plan to release monitors and speakers so that it can be played comfortably in other locations as well,” he said. “The PlayStation Portal was developed as part of this effort. We want to continue thinking and challenging ourselves to provide game experiences that suit increasingly diverse lifestyles.”

When taking individual companies into account, Sony’s consoles have seen a steep rise in price to an average of $672. This marks a 33 percent increase from last year. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S, on the other hand, has seen prices go up by 22 percent, to $524.

Curiously, while Xbox unit sales have been going down by 12 percent, spending on Xbox hardware has seemingly gone up when compared to last year. PlayStation, unfortunately, doesn’t have the same benefits, with spending having dropped by 43 percent when compared to May 2025, coupled with a 58 percent drop in console unit sales.

“Xbox is currently tracking a distant third in hardware sales among the major manufacturers. But they are getting more revenue from each unit sold, enough to make dollar sales grow in May despite the unit drop,” said Circana’s Mat Piscatella. “If that fits the definition of ‘working’ or not, I don’t know.”

Nintendo, on the other hand, has continued to see growth in console sales, with 5.9 million units of the Switch 2 having been sold in the US in the console’s first year. This has also made it the second-fastest-selling gaming hardware in the country, right behind the Game Boy Advance, which had sold 6.5 million units in its first year. With a price hike looming over the horizon for the Nintendo Switch 2, however, Piscatella has noted that the coming year “may be a tough one” for the console in terms of hardware sales.

As for software sales, IO Interactive’s 007 First Light has topped the sales charts in the US, followed by Forza Horizon 6 in second place and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in third. Fourth place has been taken up by the Early Access release of Subnautica 2. The only other new game in the top-10 chart is Yoshi and the Mystery Book, which debuted at 8th place. The rest of the chart is taken up by games released earlier in the year, like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream at 5th, MLB: The Show 26 at 6th, Crimson Desert at 7th, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at 9th, and Mario Kart World at 10th.

Piscatella noted that there weren’t really any anomalies in software sales for the month of May 2026 in the US, while also mentioning that half of the titles in the list were new releases. It is worth noting that three of the top 10 best-sellers in the US were exclusive to Nintendo platforms.

Hardware – The average price paid for a new unit of video game hardware reached $502 in May, up 14% compared to a year ago ($440). May 2026 PlayStation 5 average pricing increased by 33% versus a year ago to $672, with Xbox Series up 22%, to $524.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.582Z

The narrator for the trailer notes that players exploring the world will “encounter the traces of those who once lived here. Some stories are not tales of great heroes. They begin with desire, regret, and the choices of ordinary people.” The trailer also reiterates that some of the stories that players will get to encounter in The Relic: First Guardian are inspired by traditional Korean folktales and legends.

“They may feel familiar, yet they remain very different in this world,” says the narrator as the protagonist starts a new quest about a man seemingly dropping their axe and getting a golden one in return. This story ended up spreading around the nearby village, and eventually, the nearby lake started getting filled with several axes. This story is experienced through a series of glowing orbs that tell the story of one such person who believed in the legend and decided to throw his own axe into the lake.

Along the way, the protagonist has to take on the ghouls that have seemingly made their home in the area surrounding the lake. Through this, we get to see more of the heavy, slow-paced combat of The Relic: First Guardian. Interestingly, this quest didn’t culminate in an epic boss fight. Rather, the emphasis was on the tragedy of the people who fell for the simple folktale, and as a result, ended up losing their means of making any money so that they could escape their debts.

The trailer also features a few dungeon-crawling segments, as the protagonist explores the world and experiences more of the stories from The Relic: First Guardian. We get to see many of the smaller stories from the game throughout the video’s runtime, while also experiencing some of the epic fights that players will get to experience.

The Relic: First Guardian got a trailer earlier this month, giving us another look at its combat system. The trailer emphasized the fact that the players will have to weave in and out of range as they try to land melee blows on enemies while also avoiding damage.

A trailer from February, which focused on the Korean folktale The Heavenly Maiden and the Woodcutter, showcased how this combat system would work against a singular boss fight. Much like the newer video, that trailer gave us a glimpse at how Korean folktales would be a heavy influence on The Relic: First Guardian, before the player inevitably has to fight against a spectre of the titular “Heavenly Maiden”, who has been corrupted to a horrendous degree.

The Relic: First Guardian is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Players can access the new costume through an in-game Hokara, where a Change Costume button is available. It is available to all Silent Hill f players for free, as long as their game has been updated to 1.20 or later. Celebrating the release of the costume is a new trailer that shows off how Hinako looks as she makes her way through the dangerous streets of Ebisugaoka. Check it out below.

A similar set of costumes was released for free for Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake back in February, giving players access to Hinako’s Navy Sailor School Uniform and Fox Mask that can then be equipped on Mio and Mayu Akamura. It is worth keeping in mind that these are simply cosmetic outfit choices and have no effect on gameplay.

Silent Hill f tells the story of young schoolgirl Shimizu Hinako, who faces plenty of issues at home thanks to the expectations of Japanese society as well as her abusive father. The title is set in the 1960s, and one day, after getting into a fight with her parents, Hinako heads into town to hang out with her friends. Unfortunately, however, this hangout session turns into a nightmare, with Ebisugaoka getting engulfed in a strange fog and spider lilies blooming everywhere. If things weren’t bad enough, strange monsters also pop up and start prowling around town.

Silent Hill f was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on September 25th. The title was the first mainline entry in the franchise since 2012’s Silent Hill: Downpour. Konami has confirmed that the title has been quite successful, and as of April 22nd, has sold more than 2 million copies.

Lead level designer Kaiyu Chang had previously spoken about the challenges in bringing the town of Ebisugaoka to life. She spoke about the story resonating with her quite strongly thanks to its core themes about the constraints that women face in society.

“I first read the initial draft of the script a few years ago,” she said. “At the time, I was pregnant, which made the story’s depiction of the expectations and constraints placed on women by traditional society resonate with me even more deeply. Many scenes struck a strong emotional chord.”

For more details about Silent Hill f, take a look at our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its exceptional atmosphere, sound design, visuals, and execution of psychological horror. The only real complaints we had about the title were the fact that its combat system was too simplistic, and some of its combat animations were quite strange.