Gaming News · Issue #81 · 27 October 2026

TL;DR

• Active Matter hits 500,000 sales, and its first big extraction shooter update brings new maps and bosses.
• Incursion Red River's November 4 update adds airstrikes on loot convoys and a secure container.
• Modern Warfare 4 peaked at 227,434 on Steam, 26% under Black Ops 6, and Shipment is back today.
• Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 staff as Sucker Punch cuts 26 and Arkane gets one more month.

🎯 Extraction shooters

Active Matter Sells 500,000 Copies, and Its First Big Update Brings New Maps and Bosses

Gaijin Entertainment and Matter Team announced on October 25 that Active Matter has sold over 500,000 copies across Steam, the Gaijin.Net store, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, six weeks after its September 15 launch. The studio says its first major post-launch update is in the works with new maps, weapons, monsters, bosses, and visual upgrades, but gave no date. A day later, Valve rated the game Playable on Steam Deck, and it is 20% off in the Steam Scream festival until November 2.

Player impact: Half a million sales means Active Matter will keep getting support, so squads on the fence have a reason to start now. Deck players can raid on the go, but expect Playable, which means some tweaking.

Sources: Active Matter on Steam: Over 500,000 Copies · Active Matter on Steam: Steam Deck rating

Incursion Red River's November 4 Update Lets You Airstrike Loot Convoys and Adds a Secure Container

Games of Tomorrow confirmed on October 26 that Update #4 for Incursion Red River, its PvE co-op extraction shooter set in modern Vietnam, launches November 4, with creator access from October 29. Armed convoys will roam each map carrying high-tier loot, and players can call airstrikes on them. The update also adds contested airdrops, an in-raid trader on every map, a secure container that protects some loot on death, and a reworked medical system.

Player impact: A secure container and in-raid traders make every raid less punishing for co-op squads. Convoys and airdrops give you a reason to leave the safe route.

Sources: Incursion Red River on Steam: Development Update #13 · Insider Gaming

Nikita Teases a 'Pretty Big' Tarkov Halloween Event in Labs, and Players Think Zombies Are Back

Battlestate Games head Nikita Buyanov posted teaser images on October 25 and 26 for Escape from Tarkov's Halloween event, saying it is being prepared around the clock and is 'pretty big and has a surprise.' The images appear to show undead figures inside The Lab, which already hosts the Scourge boss event. Battlestate has not given a start date or confirmed zombies. Players are reading the biohazard tease as a return of the 2023 infection event.

Player impact: If zombies return, Labs raids get messier, and quests that need clean kills could stall for a while. Stock up on ammo before the event lands.

Sources: Insider Gaming · iXBT.games

EscapeFromSeoul Drops a Free Demo Before Its November Launch, and The Extractors Dates Early Access for December 9

Solo developer yougong released a free Steam demo for EscapeFromSeoul on October 25, a top-down PvE extraction shooter drawn in text and symbols, with full release planned for November 3 KST. The demo covers two areas, a hideout, and early quests, single-player only and with no time limit, while the full game adds co-op for up to three players. On October 24, Starry Games set December 9 for The Extractors, a co-op horror loot-and-escape game, after its Next Fest demo.

Player impact: EscapeFromSeoul's demo is free with no timer, so you can test its loot loop before the launch. The Extractors gives co-op squads a December date to plan around.

Sources: EscapeFromSeoul on Steam · The Extractors on Steam

🔫 FPS

Helldivers 2's Liberty Day Brings a Free Liberator Legacy Rifle, but Easy Anti-Cheat Is Locking PC Players Out

Arrowhead's Liberty Day event began October 26, with special daily missions that unlock the AR-23L Liberator Legacy rifle once the event ends, plus ship decorations and minigames. On the same day, PC players reported that Easy Anti-Cheat, added the week before, is blocking logins with an error message. GamesRadar reported many players stuck waiting for a fix, and Arrowhead had not confirmed a timeline.

Player impact: Do the Liberty Day missions while the window is open, or you miss the free rifle. On PC, you may not get the chance until the anti-cheat fix ships.

Sources: GamesRadar+

🔜 Coming soon

Phantom Blade Zero Scores 88 on Metacritic and Needs 300GB Free for Its PC Pre-Load

Reviews for S-Game's wuxia action RPG Phantom Blade Zero went live on October 26, landing at 88 on Metacritic and 91 on OpenCritic, ahead of Nioh 3 (86) and Onimusha: Way of the Sword (85). The game launches October 28 for $59.99 on Steam. S-Game says the install is 145GB, needs an SSD, and asks PC players to keep at least 300GB free for the pre-load, which opened October 26.

Player impact: If you are buying, clear space now: the pre-load needs double the final install size. Those scores put it in the action game of the year race.

Sources: GamesRadar+ · PC Gamer

Emberville Gets Delayed to January 7, One Day Before Its Early Access Launch

Developer Cygnus Cross pushed its pixel-art action RPG Emberville from October 27 to January 7, 2027, in a Steam post on October 26. The studio said Steam Next Fest demo feedback called for system changes, including a bow combat rework, that could not be finished in time. The studio had confirmed the October 27 date only a week earlier. The demo stays available on Steam.

Player impact: If Emberville was on your list for this week, it is now a January game. Play the demo now and see if the bow combat needed the rework.

Sources: PC Gamer

🆕 Just released

Modern Warfare 4 Peaked 26% Below Black Ops 6 on Steam, and Shipment Lands Today

SteamDB data reported on October 25 shows the shared Call of Duty Steam app peaked at 227,434 concurrent players during Modern Warfare 4's launch weekend, about 26% below Black Ops 6's 306,460 but more than double Black Ops 7's roughly 100,000. The app also covers Warzone, so the figure is not MW4 alone. Infinity Ward patched Hijack spawns and a Search and Destroy defuse exploit on October 25, and the 6v6 map Shipment arrives October 27.

Player impact: Lobbies are full on PC, but the launch is softer than Black Ops 6. Shipment is the fastest camo grind, so expect chaos and spawn deaths on day one.

Sources: OpenCritic (via Game Rant) · PCGamesN

Final Fantasy Resonance Hits 42,885 Steam Players, Beating Rebirth's Series Record

Square Enix's HD-2D RPG Final Fantasy Resonance, which launched October 22, hit 42,885 concurrent Steam players on October 25, according to SteamDB data reported by GamesRadar. That beats Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's 40,564 for the series' biggest single-player peak on Steam. Rebirth reached PC almost a year after PS5, while Resonance launched on PC and consoles on the same day. The game costs $49.99 on Steam.

Player impact: A turn-based HD-2D game outdrawing Rebirth on Steam shows that same-day PC launches pay off. Expect more Square Enix games to skip the console-first window.

Sources: GamesRadar+

🆓 Free to try

Playable Archive and a Crash Bandicoot Tribute Lead October 26's Free Steam Drops

Darkstone Digital, the solo studio behind The Mortuary Assistant, released Playable Archive on Steam on October 26, a free found-footage horror short built from a cancelled game. The same day, four free-to-play games landed on Steam with no end date: Dr. Mancell and Mr. Flame (a boss-rush tribute to Crash Bandicoot's composer), Wood Watch (point-and-click survival horror), Stolemates (four-player tag), and Goliath Rogue (a roguelike).

Player impact: All five are permanently free on Steam with no claim deadline, so download them when you want. Playable Archive is the pick for a short Halloween stream.

Sources: Playable Archive on Steam · PC Gamer · Screen Rant

🕹️ Console specifics

A New Launcher Called Playden Runs Steam Games on Jailbroken PS5s

An experimental alpha launcher called Playden, spotted on October 26, lets jailbroken PS5 owners sign in to Steam, download games they own, and run them through a PS5 port of Wine, the Windows compatibility layer. It supports Steam Cloud saves, per-game graphics and controller settings, and mouse and keyboard. The DualSense shows up as an Xbox controller. It only works on consoles running the recent PS5 jailbreak.

Player impact: Jailbreaking risks a PSN ban, so this is for tinkerers with a spare console. Expect Sony to patch the exploit soon.

Sources: Insider Gaming

🖥️ Hardware

Leaked Video Shows New RTX 5090s Stripped in a Chinese Factory for AI Servers

A video posted by HKEPC on October 26 appears to show a Chinese factory taking apart large numbers of new retail RTX 5090 cards, including Founders Editions, and moving the GPU and memory onto two-slot blower boards for AI servers. PC Gamer reports that US retail stock is close to zero while Nvidia says production continues. The video has not been independently verified.

Player impact: If gaming 5090s keep going to AI farms, expect prices to stay above $5,000 and stock to stay empty. If you need a high-end card now, look at the 5080 or wait.

Sources: PC Gamer

📦 Other

Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 Staff as Arkane Gets One More Month to Find a Buyer

Microsoft announced a Voluntary Exit Offer on October 26 that roughly 60,000 employees in the US, UK, Canada, and India can apply for, about 27% of its workforce, with leavers exiting December 31. Microsoft did not say whether Xbox teams qualify. The same day, Microsoft confirmed it extended Arkane Lyon's consultation period from November 13 to mid-December while it looks for a partner. The Dishonored studio has 217 jobs at risk, and Marvel's Blade remains in development there.

Player impact: More staff leaving Xbox studios means slower updates and more cancelled projects. Blade's future now depends on Arkane finding a buyer by December.

Sources: PC Gamer · Eurogamer

Sucker Punch Reportedly Lays Off 26 Developers Despite Ghost of Yotei's Strong Sales

Aftermath reported on October 26 that PlayStation's Sucker Punch cut 26 staff, citing an internal email in which leadership blamed 'the challenges in the market' and the needs of its next unannounced project. Ghost of Yotei sold 3.3 million copies in about a month after its 2025 launch, and Sony said it outsold Ghost of Tsushima over the same period. Staff were told more details about the studio's future would come next week.

Player impact: Even a hit does not protect a PlayStation studio from cuts. Expect a longer wait for Sucker Punch's next game, and watch next week's update.

Sources: Eurogamer · VGC

Steam Goes Down for the Second Time in a Week With a 'Loading User Data' Loop

Steam users reported a 'loading user data' error on October 26 that stopped the client from launching games or opening the store, with reports spiking from around 8am ET, according to GamesRadar. The error seemed tied to the desktop client, and the web store still worked for some users. Valve had not commented. Steam also had a short store outage on October 21.

Player impact: If Steam hangs on launch, try the web store for purchases and wait it out. Avoid redeeming codes or starting big downloads until the loop clears.

Sources: GamesRadar+

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