Joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski commented on the achievement, stating that it showcased “the incredible, lasting strength of Cyberpunk 2077” and served as a “testament to what CD Projekt does best – creating high-quality, immersive stories that keep players returning for years.” He also calls it “a great foundation for our upcoming projects in this universe, including the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 anime arriving this Fall.”

Of course, it also resulted in the first season, which received widespread acclaim, and motivated millions to play the game after its many improvements. Despite a troubled launch and concerns about crunch culture, CD Projekt RED has come a long way since, delivering the equally acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion. The latter has sold 10 million copies as of May 2025, though you’d have to imagine that figure is higher since it’s included in the Ultimate Edition.

Besides Edgerunners 2, which features four new characters and “Night City at its most brutal,” the company is also working on Project Orion, aka Cyberpunk 2. Announced in October 2022, it entered pre-production in May 2025, and despite no word on its premise or when it could launch, creator Mike Pondsmith hinted at the inclusion of a new city, described as “Chicago gone wrong.” Night City returns, but its role in the story currently remains unknown.

Physical Deluxe Edition pre-orders are now live via retailers such as VGP, and it seems that the entire experience is on a cart rather than a Game-Key Card. Alongside the base game, Oblivion Remastered includes Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, its two acclaimed expansions, providing a substantial experience.

However, it’s worth noting that the remake has faced extensive criticism after launching last year. Two patches went live to fix various issues but ended up ruining the game’s performance for many players while also introducing several new bugs. Virtuos didn’t provide any additional support afterwards, essentially leaving Oblivion Remastered to rot on other platforms.

There’s some hope that the Switch 2 release could result in performance improvements across the board, finally addressing the most egregious issues. Stay tuned for more updates on that front – and how the remake takes advantage of the console – in the coming months.

The game’s allegedly been rated by the ESRB for the platform, according to Wario64 on BlueSky. That could mean a potential release date in the coming days, though as always, it’s best to wait until an official announcement is made. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to get excited at the prospect of playing this one again on a new platform, given how much fun we had with it when reviewing it last year.

However, our enthusiasm is a bit dampened by the numerous bugs and performance issues that have been plaguing it since then. You might say that it’s Bethesda being Bethesda, but that’s still no reason to abruptly drop support, especially when there’s such a dedicated fan base. Here’s to hoping that the new port irons out those issues, and perhaps even brings a patch for other platforms with it.

We’re wondering how it’s going to navigate a rather crowded calendar of releases this year, thanks to Grand Theft Auto 6’s release looming large over the gaming world, but we’re sure it could find more than a few takers despite that.

Lo and behold, it was more than a gorgeous facelift. The leveling was fixed, and it actually felt worthwhile to improve the skills you wanted. Combat felt more responsive, and animations were updated. But more importantly, it felt like the original updated for the modern age, retaining all the bizarre charm and imaginative world-building that made Cyrodiil and the Hero of Kvatch’s story so compelling.

Truly a blast from the past, when Bethesda delivered a compelling narrative that you wanted to dive further into alongside interesting and varied side content. The addition of the Shivering Isles – widely considered one of the finest expansions ever – made it an even sweeter deal at $50, despite the admittedly annoying Digital Deluxe Edition with its armor sets, weapons and not one but two horse armor sets.

To no one’s surprise, Oblivion Remastered was a massive hit. Despite launching on day one for Game Pass, it was one of the best-selling games of 2025 in the United States. To say that its sales outpaced the original in a fraction of the time would be an understatement. Bethesda had seemingly found a new winning formula to print money: simply revisit its glory days.

There was just one problem: The bugs. And no, not those left intentionally, which contributed to some of the quirkiness. We’re talking about other, serious, game-breaking bugs and some performance hiccups. Many players reported many other issues – who knew that taking a dual-engine approach could create so many problems? Surely, Virtuos would address them in short order. Right?

Well, after two months and no real response, players began to grow antsy. The studio eventually released update 1.1 in July to address numerous crashes and then update 1.2 a few days later with even more fixes. The latter even added more difficulty options and settings to separately adjust player and enemy damage.

And then it abandoned the game. That’s not an exaggeration. No other updates have been released ever since. In terms of post-launch support, even Redfall lasted longer, despite a pitiful critical reception and minimal sales (per Phil Spencer himself). Ponder on that for a moment.

One year on, Oblivion Remastered still suffers from performance stutters, crashes, and an altogether uncharming level of jank. Perhaps the most egregious issue is that performance actually degrades with more playtime. That’s right – the more time you spend exploring Cyrodiil and really taking in the atmosphere, the more likely it is that performance will nosedive.

Many argue that those two updates actually made everything worse. Others believe they barely made a difference. Very few are happy with the game’s state, regardless.

You could argue that Bethesda earned whatever revenue it could and peaced out, but this is a game that continues to attract players on Game Pass. Within three months, it reached nine million overall – surely it and parent company Microsoft would want to continue support, ensuring the remaster remained the definitive way to experience Oblivion in today’s age. But no. Not even close. Recent reviews on Steam are “Mixed” with only 51 percent of the 523 users recommending it. Even Starfield has fared better, regardless of how players may feel about the game’s overall state.

Of course, there are other potential reasons why Oblivion Remastered was left to fester. Virtuos suffered several layoffs in the months after launch and may not have had the resources to continue supporting it. Maybe getting the game up and running also required significant support from Bethesda, which is plenty busy with other projects. It may also have been a matter of Microsoft not wanting to foot the bill.

But hey, don’t worry. Xbox still clearly sees the money in more remasters, hence why it’s allegedly remastering Fallout 3 (gotta give those fans of the show what they want, after all). So, to add insult to injury and rub salt in the wound further, another beloved classic may be ruined by this dual-engine approach. Nothing is confirmed, naturally, but hearing that it’s reportedly getting the Oblivion Remastered treatment doesn’t fill my heart with hope. Will the rumored remaster of Fallout: New Vegas also suffer the same fate? Is Microsoft doomed to repeat the cycle forever, wiping those tears away with fat stacks of cash?

If all that wasn’t enough, Halo: Campaign Evolved could offer another look at a potential dual-engine disaster, since it’s running on the original Halo’s legacy code while overhauling the visuals on Unreal Engine 5. Judging by the criticism from the reveal and the fact that we’ve not seen any gameplay ever since, not to mention an alleged launch in July, you have to wonder what’s going on.

Of course, all of that is still to come. Maybe we won’t witness the same problems at launch or shortly after. Benefit of the doubt, fingers crossed, and whatnot.

It’s still a shame right now because Oblivion Remastered is genuinely good. The visuals are simply incredible, and for a time, it seemed like the perfect argument against Bethesda remaining on the Creation Engine. Look what a different developer could accomplish on Unreal Engine 5 while still retaining all the classic gameplay fundamentals! And it sadly wasn’t to be.

I’ll still have the memories of venturing into deep dark caves and slaughtering all and sundry while waking up to a mysterious assassin from the Dark Brotherhood who recruits me. I’ll still remember that feeling of watching the king suddenly slain, and setting forth into this vast and beautiful world to find his heir. From battling the horrors emerging from the gates of Oblivion to wandering onto an inn that happens to be a pirate ship and fighting my way through to escape this impromptu kidnapping. From hearing the adoring fan’s annoying pestering to breaking the spell system to an absurd degree. That’s the Oblivion Remastered that I have the benefit of remembering.

Too bad that newer players will have that experience marred by a litany of technical issues that Microsoft and Bethesda couldn’t bother to fix. Maybe when Bethesda announces its next remaster, it will have an epiphany and realize, like 343 Industries did with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, that it should address this mess first. If for nothing else than a show of good faith to customers.

Then again, this is Bethesda we’re talking about. Even after the mixed reactions surrounding Fallout 4 and its DLC, it went on to release a massive disaster in Fallout 76 at launch. And yet, it still managed to get millions on board for Starfield. You can bet that it’ll have even more people ready to put down their money when The Elder Scrolls 6 is imminent or when Fallout 5 pre-orders are live. Maybe it’s just the nature of the machine and those sworn to it.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Back in 2021, Abstraction was also noted as having worked with 343 Industries on the accessibility features for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Its work in this department included expansion of localization options, support for color-blindness, and subtitle customization.

Rebs Gaming cites a pair of sources: a former developer and a current one on the project. According to the former developer, Abstraction’s work as a co-developer on Halo: Campaign Evolved allegedly began in Summer 2023. The current developer has noted that Abstraction’s work on the project involves level and technical design, including the development of entire missions.

The work is said to be quite extensive and includes concept design, polishing, creation of scripted events, and retuning of combat gameplay to account for new mechanics like sprint and 4-player co-op.

Interestingly, the video also brings up the relationship between Abstraction and Virtuos—a studio known for its support work, as well as its remasters and remakes. January 2025 saw it acquire Abstraction thanks to the latter’s expertise in co-development and engineering. However, December 2025 saw the latter split from Virtuos, once more becoming independently owned. Both companies have noted that they maintain a positive relationship.

This becomes relevant in this case thanks to Rebs Gaming’s current developer source, who noted that Virtuos is also involved in the development of Halo: Campaign Evolved to some degree. The developer also spoke about one of their responsibilities being to maintain effective collaboration between development partners, which is strongly hinted to be both Virtuos and Abstraction. To what degree Virtuos is involved, however, remains unknown for now.

Recent rumors have indicated that Halo: Campaign Evolved is on track to be released later this year. While one report from February indicated that Halo Studios and Microsoft might be aiming for a Summer release window, another one noted that it will likely come out before September.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and will be the first entry in the entire Halo franchise to come out on one of Sony’s consoles. Along with the visual overhauls you would expect from a remake, it will also feature changes to levels, improved cinematics, and the inclusion of weapons that would show up much later in the franchise. The title won’t feature any competitive multiplayer, with the focus instead being on co-operative gameplay throughout the campaign.

For more details about Halo: Campaign Evolved, take a look at how Halo Studios wants to honor the franchise while also introducing it to an entirely new generation of gamers.

“We have no plans for additional DLCs or expansions. If anything changes, we will inform you all!” it said on Twitter in response to a fan asking about “When secret new DLC?” Unfortunately, it didn’t respond when told to “do the same with The Witcher account.”

Phantom Liberty has sold ten million copies as of May 2025 – an especially impressive milestone given that the base game crossed 35 million sales. CD Projekt RED has released multiple updates in recent years, working with Virtuos to add new features like CrystalCoat for customizing vehicle colors. You can even ride the subway, a feature that many lambasted for its absence from the title for years.

Unfortunately, those hankering for more will have to wait until the release of Project Orion, unofficially known as Cyberpunk 2, which doesn’t have a release window or date. It features a new city, which creator Mike Pondsmith likened to “Chicago gone wrong,” and could implement multiplayer, a feature originally meant for the first game before its disastrous launch.

Then again, maybe plans will change, and it will receive the same (alleged) treatment as The Witcher 3, whose new DLC is apparently out in May and connects to The Witcher 4.

Time will tell, but in the meantime, if you haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077, it’s now available on Game Pass alongside Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.

The title is a ground-up remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which was originally released on PS2 back in 2004. While it features enhanced visuals and gameplay that take advantage of modern-day hardware on PC and consoles, the storyline has been left untouched, with many of the original voice actors returning to play the game’s beloved characters once more.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater takes place in the 1960s. Protagonist Naked Snake has been tasked with extracting a defecting Soviet scientist, but as he gets close to the completion of his mission, finds himself betrayed by his long-time mentor, The Boss, and the fact that the Soviet Union has been working on a super weapon of its own, dubbed the Shagohod.

After being allowed a few days to recover from the injuries he sustained during the initial mission, Snake is once more sent into Soviet Russia to take down this super weapon. Along the way, he also has a secondary objective of taking down The Boss and her specialized super soldiers, known only as the Cobra Unit. The story is filled with several plot twists mixed in with over-the-top boss fights and intense stealth gameplay. For more details, take a look at our review, and check out our thoughts on how it acts as a love letter to action movies.

Director Yuji Korekado and producer Noriaki Okamura had spoken about working on the remake of Snake Eater back in December, and how it was a matter of “now or never” for the developers.

“Because the series has been around for a long time, we have a wide variety of fans,” said Korekado. “And we are conscious of being respectful to the previous games in the series. With this remake, we thought about how it would be best to bring the game to modern players, while respecting the thoughts and concepts of the original creator. However, if you reproduce the original work exactly as it is, some aspects can be difficult to play [for today’s gamers], so we adapted them.”

Okamura went on to discuss the state of the Metal Gear franchise after the departure of series creator Hideo Kojima back in 2015.

“With losing the original staff, it was challenging figuring out how to continue the series,” he explained. “We would start and stop talking about developing something new all the time. However, given our age, and how the number of developers with knowledge of the Metal Gear series was decreasing, we decided that if we didn’t resurrect the series now, it would become difficult to do so. Because it’s such an incredible series, I decided that now was the time.”

In the meantime, Konami has also confirmed that it has been working on a new set of remasters for the Metal Gear franchise, with the company having recently announced that Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 will be coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2 on August 27th. The collection will include Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Currently available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, Oblivion Remastered is handled by Virtuos and Bethesda Game Studios. While retaining the Gamebryo core, its visuals have been significantly overhauled with Unreal Engine 5. The result is a gorgeous experience that retains many of the original’s quirks.

Quality-of-life changes abound for combat, progression, and more, ensuring a smoother experience. Of course, alongside the base game, you’re gaining access to all the DLC and expansions, including Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition nets two additional armor and weapon sets for those who really want them.

Unfortunately, several new issues emerged on top of the remaining ones. Virtuos has released updates to address these, but judging by the recent “Mixed” reviews on Steam, there’s still work to be done. But who knows? Maybe the Switch 2 port will usher in changes and improvements. We’ll have to wait to be sure, but in the meantime, check out our review for the base experience.

Of course, the main difference is that it didn’t launch exclusively for Xbox to start. However, it’s interesting to note that the apparent playtime for about half of all PS5 players was about 15 hours. You have to wonder if performance issues and bugs got in the way.

Another notable Xbox-developed launch was Gears of War Reloaded. As an enhanced re-release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, it reportedly sold 572,000 units on PS5. On Xbox, it managed to sell 202,000 while Steam racked up 73,000 sales. While this might seem surprising, Alinea estimates that it’s due to Game Pass cannibalizing sales, since 1.6 million players apparently accessed Reloaded through the subscription service.

There’s also the fact that Gears of War, especially the first game, has already been available on Xbox for so long. Meanwhile, this was many a PlayStation player’s first time experiencing the shooter. Whether this will motivate fans to experience Gears of War: E-Day, which is launching later this year, remains to be seen.

It is worth noting that, while many of the studios listed in the credits were likely teams specialising in supporting the development of major titles, others seem to be more specialised. Red Hot CG, for instance, is a development team that focuses primarily on the art assets that games need. The studio has credits across quite a few major releases, including Destiny 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Valorant, and even Starfield, among many others.

Keywords Studios, on the other hand, is a larger support studio that has several other listed studios under its overall banner, including GameSim and Smoking Gun Interactive.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been in development for quite some time. The title was originally unveiled all the way back in 2017. At the time, the title was noted as not being made with traditional Metroid Prime franchise developer Retro Studios. Rather, at the time, it was being made by Bandai Namco Studios based out of Japan and Singapore. Since then, however, quite a few things changed for the title, and its development had been confirmed as having been restarted under Retro Studios back in 2019.

The title once more puts players in the armour of Samus Aran who is stuck on the planet Viewros and must fight for survival against a variety of foes, including rival bounty hunter Sylux. Keeping to series tradition, the first-person gameplay of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond offers a heavy mix of exploration, platforming, puzzle solving, and action. To aid players, Samus is once more equipped with the ability to scan objects in the environment which can then help her unravel the overall story of the title.

The newest entry in the Metroid Prime franchise is also bringing with it some new features, like psychic powers that can be used throughout the game. Along with this, Samus will also have access to the Vi-0-La bike to travel around the game’s various environments.

Releasing on both Switch and Switch 2, the version of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the more recent console will feature quite a few unique features, like the ability to use the Joy-Con 2 controller as a mouse, more closely mimicking the gameplay of traditional PC-based shooters.

For more details about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, here are 15 things you need to know. Also check out what has changed since Metroid Prime 3.

Studios credited with work on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond:

• Retro Studios
• Next Level Games
• Virtuos
• Territory Studio
• Waterproof
• Keywords Studios
• Liquid Development
• Volta
• AMC Studio
• GameSim
• Smoking Gun Interactive
• Forge Studios
• Red Hot CG
• Original Force
• Devoted Studios
• Room 8 Studio
• Next Gen Dreams
• Mock Science
• Cup of Tea
• Formosa Interactive
• House of Moves