Just four days ago, on Sunday, during the 2026 Summer Xbox Games Showcase, Ghostrunner developer One More Level's upcoming first-person Soulslike, Valor Mortis, was announced to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on September 24. Reading the room, the studio announced today it has delayed Valor Mortis to October 13 to avoid the onslaught of September releases, which includes (but is not limited to) The Blood of Dawnwalker, Marvel's Wolverine, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Control Resonant, Silent Hill: Townfall, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and more.  

"Greetings Soldiers, September has become absolutely stacked with incredible looking games," One More Level's statement on the delay reads. "We knew this was a possibility, but when you're in a Partner Showcase as we were, dates get locked in weeks in advance. We want to give Valor Mortis (and your wallet) some room to breathe. Therefore, we've decided to move our release date to October 13. 

"In the meantime, we just launched our demo on Steam and have been getting loads of feedback. This new date also gives us even more time to improve the game. Try it out, let us know what you think, and we'll see you in October." 

If you aren't aware, September has become quite obviously stacked as a result of Fall releases trying to avoid the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. In wanting to avoid November, many studios have found themselves launching their games in the massively crowded September, and though Valor Mortis is the first game delayed because of this, we suspect it won't be the last. 

Valor Mortis hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 13. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer's Valor Mortis hands-on preview to find out why we're so excited for this Soulslike. 

Which games are you planning to pick up this September? Let us know in the comments below!

Stranger Than Heaven has long been one of the most anticipated games on the horizon. After all, it's a new action game from one of the preeminent action-game studios, Ryu Ga Gotoku, the developer behind the Like a Dragon/Yakuza franchise. However, during the Summer Game Fest 2026 Showcase, the game raised more than a few eyebrows when it revealed the cast. Among Snoop Dogg and several other known actors, the studio unveiled that Tupac Shakur, the legendary rapper who was murdered 30 years ago, would also be a part of the cast. I sat down with RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama to learn how the team is approaching its depiction of Tupac.

As with all great stories, it all started with Snoop Dogg. Inspired by Snoop Dogg's real-life relationships, Yokoyama began brainstorming with his team how to play off of that concept for his character. 

"Snoop Dogg plays the character Orpheus, who's a pretty important character to the game," Yokoyama says. "There's actually a lot of characters who have a relationship to Snoop in the game that we haven't announced. There's a lot of people in this world who, in terms of Japan, are outsiders or foreigners or people who have come from another country. But why Tupac specifically would be that when we cast Snoop as Orpheus, we thought, 'We have Snoop Dogg, he's such an incredible person who has all these really interesting relationships in the real world as well. We wanted to bring on these people with relationships for a lot of different roles, and those are the kind of people who we were just talking about before. But we thought – and we discussed this with Snoop, as well – 'What if we had a person who had a relationship in the game and outside of the game that maybe mirrors it in some sense."

RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama

The way Yokoyama describes it, Tupac's name rose to the surface after bringing the idea to Snoop Dogg. "Initially, we talked to Snoop and we said, 'We have this character, we need to fill this role. Who do you think would be a good role for that?" Yokoyama says. "Then, Tupac's name came out from Snoop's side, but it was kind of playing back and forth. It wasn't just his name, it was a bunch of different people. There were even people at our studio who said, 'Well, if Snoop Dogg and Tupac have this relationship in the game together, you'd probably cry about that because it's so cool!' There were definitely people on both sides who really appreciated the idea, but obviously that wasn't possible to achieve, right? The next step for us was we had to talk to both his family and his estate and negotiated and got everyone's approval, so once we were clear, we were able to move forward with it."

When I bring up the ongoing battle between Tupac's family and music executive Tom Whalley, who owns Tupac's likeness rights, Yokoyama clarifies that he pursued approval from the likeness holder, as well as Tupac's surviving family. "Of course, we wanted to have the family involved in every step along the way to make sure this is respectful to his legacy and honors who he was," Yokoyama says. "But at the same time, we wanted to not kind of recreate who Tupac was when he passed away. We wanted to try to envision who Tupac might be now, and we did this with the full approval step by step. Going through the family to make sure that everything met it. We wanted to say, 'Okay, if he was still alive now, thirty years later, how would he act? How would he express himself in that way? That's what we're trying to not going into his past, but rather his potential future."

Though this clarifies some of the questions people had, and the family's inclusion in the approval process likely makes this a more palatable decision, the inclusion of Tupac Shakur 30 years after he was gunned down is sure to continue to be a controversial decision. Stranger Than Heaven arrives on January 15.

Stranger Than Heaven has long been one of the most anticipated games on the horizon. After all, it's a new action game from one of the preeminent action-game studios, Ryu Ga Gotoku, the developer behind the Like a Dragon/Yakuza franchise. However, during the Summer Game Fest 2026 Showcase, the game raised more than a few eyebrows when it revealed the cast. Among Snoop Dogg and several other known actors, the studio unveiled that Tupac Shakur, the legendary rapper who was murdered 30 years ago, would also be a part of the cast. I sat down with RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama to learn how the team is approaching its depiction of Tupac.

As with all great stories, it all started with Snoop Dogg. Inspired by Snoop Dogg's real-life relationships, Yokoyama began brainstorming with his team how to play off of that concept for his character. 

"Snoop Dogg plays the character Orpheus, who's a pretty important character to the game," Yokoyama says. "There's actually a lot of characters who have a relationship to Snoop in the game that we haven't announced. There's a lot of people in this world who, in terms of Japan, are outsiders or foreigners or people who have come from another country. But why Tupac specifically would be that when we cast Snoop as Orpheus, we thought, 'We have Snoop Dogg, he's such an incredible person who has all these really interesting relationships in the real world as well. We wanted to bring on these people with relationships for a lot of different roles, and those are the kind of people who we were just talking about before. But we thought – and we discussed this with Snoop, as well – 'What if we had a person who had a relationship in the game and outside of the game that maybe mirrors it in some sense."

RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama

The way Yokoyama describes it, Tupac's name rose to the surface after bringing the idea to Snoop Dogg. "Initially, we talked to Snoop and we said, 'We have this character, we need to fill this role. Who do you think would be a good role for that?" Yokoyama says. "Then, Tupac's name came out from Snoop's side, but it was kind of playing back and forth. It wasn't just his name, it was a bunch of different people. There were even people at our studio who said, 'Well, if Snoop Dogg and Tupac have this relationship in the game together, you'd probably cry about that because it's so cool!' There were definitely people on both sides who really appreciated the idea, but obviously that wasn't possible to achieve, right? The next step for us was we had to talk to both his family and his estate and negotiated and got everyone's approval, so once we were clear, we were able to move forward with it."

When I bring up the ongoing battle between Tupac's family and music executive Tom Whalley, who owns Tupac's likeness rights, Yokoyama clarifies that he pursued approval from the likeness holder, as well as Tupac's surviving family. "Of course, we wanted to have the family involved in every step along the way to make sure this is respectful to his legacy and honors who he was," Yokoyama says. "But at the same time, we wanted to not kind of recreate who Tupac was when he passed away. We wanted to try to envision who Tupac might be now, and we did this with the full approval step by step. Going through the family to make sure that everything met it. We wanted to say, 'Okay, if he was still alive now, thirty years later, how would he act? How would he express himself in that way? That's what we're trying to not going into his past, but rather his potential future."

Though this clarifies some of the questions people had, and the family's inclusion in the approval process likely makes this a more palatable decision, the inclusion of Tupac Shakur 30 years after he was gunned down is sure to continue to be a controversial decision. Stranger Than Heaven arrives on January 15.

We first learned about Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis last year, but it appeared during last week's PlayStation State of Play with a new February 12 release date and a Steam generative AI disclosure that indicates developers Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog used AI at one point, but notes that all AI assets have been "replaced or refined by humans." 

During Summer Game Fest 2026 media play days, we had a chance to play Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis – read our hands-on preview thoughts here – and interview Crystal Dynamics about the game. During this interview, Game Informer senior video editor Alex Van Aken asked Crystal Dynamics' experience director for the game, Jeff Adams, about the use of generative AI. Here's what he had to say: 

"At Crystal Dynamics, we see AI as a tool that can help our team get to right answers faster. So, let me give you an example of what that looks like. So, say in early level development, we have an idea for an object, but we're not sure whether or not we want to take the dev time to build it. We can use a generative AI tool to help us visualize that object in the world. And if it works, we'll then move it to our traditional pipeline. From there, the team will concept it, they'll build it, and we'll make sure that all the finished content in the final game is human-crafted. It's really important for us that our team has the tools to make the highest quality experience possible. Our fans deserve nothing less than that."

We followed up, asking, "And so when you drag that generative piece into the engine, does it have scripts attached to it? Or is it an environmental art tool in that procedure? What's that look like?"

At this point, a PR representative clarified off-camera to say, "I think what I'd probably say is I think we've said all we want to say about it now. Once the game comes out and everyone can see how amazing it is, we'd probably be more comfortable. I think in this early moment, I just wouldn't want us to like start talking about that." 

Adams concludes, "We just want to make it as easy as possible for us to make high-quality game experiences. That's really the important thing." 

[video source]

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC next year on February 12.

For more, read Game Informer's Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis preview, and then check out the latest Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis trailer. 

Editor's Note: This article has been edited for clarity. 

Does the use of generative AI in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis affect your decision to one day play the game? Let us know in the comments below!

Ahead of the 2026 Summer Xbox Games Showcase, many assumed Gears of War: E-Day would also be coming to PlayStation 5 alongside Xbox Series X/S and PC – prior messaging pointed toward such a release, as did the release of Gears of War: Reloaded on PS5. But, during the showcase, Xbox revealed that Gears of War: E-Day would be an Xbox console exclusive, launching on Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 6. 

In the days since that announcement, a lot of confusion has arisen from the decision. The Verge reporter Tom Warren and Bloomberg have reported that sources tell them Gears of War: E-Day was, in fact, going to come to PS5, but in a somewhat last-minute decision (the timing of which has been the subject of great debate), Xbox CEO Asha Sharma decided to make the game an Xbox console exclusive. Vice president of Xbox games marketing Aaron Greenberg responded to Warren on X, stating, "Hey Tom, I can confirm this [the last-minute decision] is not true. We just limited the knowledge of this news to a very small internal group. Intention was to share this news first with our players and everyone watching showcase." 

In that same X discussion, Warren references an official Xbox podcast with the Gears of War: E-Day key art and the PS5 logo visible at the bottom, suggesting it was perhaps set to launch on the competitor platform, as noted by Eurogamer. You can see it in the image from Warren below: 

There's also the PEGI rating for Gears of War: E-Day on PS5 that went live before the showcase, as caught by Eurogamer (though the PEGI ratings board has since updated it to reflect just Xbox Series X/S and PC), as well as a Walmart listing for a PS5 version of the game, as reported by IGN. Of course, PEGI and Walmart are not part of Xbox, so these listings could have just been mistakes or guesses. 

In a new interview with Eurogamer, however, studio heads at Gears of War: E-Day developer The Coalition indicate that the team never publicly discussed releasing the game on PlayStation 5. "We never talked about it going to PS5," studio creative director Matt Searcy told the publication. Studio brand director Nicole Fawcette added, "It was never changed." Searcy continued, "I would say that Gears as an exclusive makes a ton of sense. It's kind of an honor, and exciting, to be one of the Xbox flagship titles." 

So today, it's a bit of he-said, she-said. Some evidence points to a PS5 version of the game, including Giant Bomb president and co-owner Jeff Grubb saying on Bluesky, "So yeah, there's a basically finished version of Gears for PlayStation sitting on a drive." But official Xbox messaging indicates otherwise. Nonetheless, Gears of War: E-Day will launch as an Xbox console exclusive on Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 6. 

[Sources: Eurogamer, IGN, The Verge, Bloomberg, Giant Bomb]

Where are you playing Gears of War: E-Day on launch day? Let us know in the comments below!