Gaming News · Issue #58 · 4 October 2026

TL;DR

• ARC Raiders free weekend runs October 8 to 12 on every platform, so free-to-play access lands the same day as Frozen Trail.
• A Valorant player bought a used Ryzen CPU in Germany and inherited the last owner's hardware ban.
• GTA 6's pulled PEGI rating spelled out the drugs, gore, and sex scenes Rockstar still hasn't shown.
• Jagex revealed RS4 half an hour after asking RuneScape veterans to start over on fresh servers.
• Micron says memory shortages get worse in 2027, which is bad news for GPU and console prices.

🎯 Extraction shooters

ARC Raiders Goes Free for Four Days on October 8, the Day Frozen Trail Lands

Embark Studios confirmed on October 2 that ARC Raiders will be free to play on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S from October 8 at 09:00 UTC until October 12 at 08:00 UTC. It is the game's first free window, timed to its first anniversary. Free players get the full game, including the Frozen Trail update that ships the same day with the Pendola Pass snow map, the ARC Frigate, Weapon Amplification, and a reworked skill tree.

Player impact: Expect packed lobbies full of fresh raiders on a brand-new map, which means easy loot for veterans and chaos at extracts. If your squad lapsed, this is the cheapest way to see whether Frozen Trail fixes what made you quit.

Sources: ARC Raiders official news · GamingBolt

🔫 FPS

A Used Ryzen CPU Came With Its Last Owner's Valorant Hardware Ban

A German player bought a second-hand Ryzen 7 5800X3D on Kleinanzeigen in late September and got blocked from Valorant on first launch. Riot support reportedly said the chip's ID had been on Vanguard's hardware ban list since August 12, when the previous owner was caught cheating, and that nothing could be done. Kotaku and Tom's Hardware reported it on October 3; hardware bans reportedly expire after up to four months, so the chip should clear around mid-December.

Player impact: Buying used PC parts now carries a hidden risk: a cheater's ban can ride along with the silicon, and there is no way to check before you pay. Ask sellers what games they played, or budget for new parts.

Sources: Kotaku · Tom's Hardware

Apex Cuts Axle's Slide Control in Half and Bans a Player Who Crashed Lobbies With Ballistic

Respawn's October 1 patch nerfs Axle's passive slide lateral control by 50 percent, disables aim assist for anyone boosted by her Nitro Gate, and cuts her Kickstart drone chase from 10 to 8 seconds. The same day, the anti-cheat team said a player used a modified client to duplicate optics through Ballistic's Sling passive, overloading servers until matches crashed, then rejoined to farm disconnected squads. That account is permanently banned and the exploit is patched.

Player impact: Axle mains lose the tight-corner slide that made her slippery in final circles, and Nitro Gate pushes no longer come with free aim assist. If your lobbies kept dying mid-fight, that crash was probably deliberate, and it should stop now.

Sources: Apex Legends Steam news (patch) · Apex Legends Steam news (anti-cheat)

Battlefield 6 Says About 3 Percent of Matches Had a Cheater in August

EA's October 2 anti-cheat report for Battlefield 6 tracks Match Infection Rate, the share of matches touched by at least one suspected cheater. It started August at 4.64 percent, fell as low as 2.89 percent on August 25, then rose to 3.24 percent by August 31. EA Javelin, the in-house anti-cheat, blocked 327,756 cheat or tamper attempts that month, and EA says 105 of the 110 cheat sellers it tracks reported detections or downtime.

Player impact: Roughly one match in 30 still had a suspected cheater, and the number ticked up after Naval Combat launched. If you queue REDSEC or ranked-style playlists most nights, expect a few bad games a week.

Sources: Battlefield 6 Steam news

Far Far West Drops Its Halloween Skin Vault After Admitting It Was FOMO

Evil Raptor's October devlog for Far Far West, the 1 to 4 player co-op western shooter, details a Halloween event across three maps (Far West, Area 41, and the new Redwood map) with rituals, event currency, and an exclusive boss. The studio reversed its earlier plan to lock event skins away until next year: they will return to the shop for gold at a higher price after the event. Redwood was cut by almost 40 percent after a bad playtest.

Player impact: If you miss the event, the skins stay buyable with in-game gold, so there is no fear-of-missing-out grind. Squads get a new map and boss for October, and Redwood unlocks through Granny's three quests.

Sources: Far Far West Steam news

Rust's Livestock Update Lets You Breed Cows and Sheep and Burn Spoiled Meat for Power

Facepunch's October 1 Rust update adds cows and sheep that players can capture, fence in, breed for better genes, and sell at a new stable vendor. Cows give milk that can be refrigerated and skimmed into stronger cream, sheep give wool worth up to 400 per trade-in, and a hand-stirred Biofuel Generator turns raw or spoiled meat into power. The new navmesh also lets NPCs walk into player bases and respect doors.

Player impact: Wipe-day priorities change: a farm now feeds tea buffs, trade income, and power, and it also gives raiders a new target. Expect clan bases to wall off ranches fast.

Sources: Rust Steam news · PCGamesN

🔜 Coming soon

Jagex Reveals RS4 Half an Hour After Asking RuneScape Veterans to Start Over

At RuneFest on October 3, Jagex announced RS4, a working title for a new standalone RuneScape MMO in Unreal Engine, set in Ashenfall and still a few years away. About 30 minutes earlier it revealed RuneScape Reignited, a fresh-start version of RuneScape 3 launching December 2 with a new economy, new hiscores, no Treasure Hunter microtransactions, and free access for non-members through December 12. No test sign-ups exist for RS4 yet.

Player impact: Veterans have to choose between decades of progress and a clean, microtransaction-free economy, while RS4 hints at where Jagex's long-term money goes. If you quit over Treasure Hunter, December 2 is your re-entry point.

Sources: Gematsu · DualShockers

🆕 Just released

Minecraft Dungeons II Now Runs on Steam Deck After a Broken Launch

Minecraft Dungeons II launched September 29 unplayable on Steam Deck and SteamOS, despite pre-release promises of Deck support that were quietly removed. A patch reported by GamingOnLinux on October 2 makes it playable, though the on-screen keyboard may still fail, and the developers say full Deck Verified status comes later. The same update raises the emerald currency cap from 9,999 to 99,999 on every platform.

Player impact: Handheld players can finally take the game on the go, but expect rough edges until Verified status lands. Everyone else gets room to hoard emeralds instead of losing drops at the old cap.

Sources: GamingOnLinux

🆓 Free to try

s&box Is Free on Steam Until October 5 With 400 Game Jam Games to Try

Facepunch's Source 2 sandbox s&box is free to play on Steam from October 2 at 6pm BST until October 5 at 10am PT, a play window and not a free-to-keep claim. The free weekend celebrates the third Game Jam, which drew over 400 games built in three weeks around the theme "One More Round". The finalists were GAMMA TEAM, a Chernobyl co-op salvage run, and RUN IT AGAIN, a speed-focused FPS, fighting for a 20,000 pound first prize.

Player impact: One weekend to sample hundreds of free mini-games, including a co-op loot-and-escape run that plays like a tiny extraction game. Install before Monday morning, because access locks when the window closes.

Sources: s&box Steam news · Game Rant

🕹️ Console specifics

Another PSN Account Was Hijacked Through Sony Support, Even With 2FA On

Push Square reported on October 3 that community figure RealRadec lost control of their PlayStation Network account after attackers used social engineering on Sony's account recovery. With only a public PSN name, the linked email, and a transaction ID or purchase date, the attackers got the account email changed, even though two-factor authentication was enabled. It mirrors podcaster Colin Moriarty's May 2026 hijack, and Sony has not announced any fix to the recovery process.

Player impact: Two-factor alone does not protect your PSN library if support can be talked into an email swap. Use a passkey, keep your PSN email private, and never post purchase receipts.

Sources: Push Square

The Newest PS5 Slim Quietly Gets a Replaceable Clock Battery and New Cooling

A teardown of the Limited Edition Wolverine PS5 Slim by technician Modификator89, reported by VGC on October 2, found a revised EDM-051 motherboard. The clock battery is now a replaceable CR2032 coin cell instead of a soldered part, the HDMI retimer is cheaper, and the cooling uses a new heatsink with a liquid metal setup and better containment, similar to the PS5 Pro. Sony has not announced the revision.

Player impact: A replaceable clock battery makes long-term repair and offline play easier, and the cooling changes may mean quieter units. If you are buying a Slim, newer stock is the one to look for.

Sources: VGC

🖥️ Hardware

Micron Says the Memory Shortage Gets Worse in 2027, With Much Higher Prices

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said this week that the company has already sold most of its 2027 memory output, that supply will be tighter in 2027 and 2028 than in 2026, and that customers face "much higher prices" next year, VGC reported on October 2. AI data centres are locking in long-term deals. New Micron factories come online in 2028, and Mehrotra said he has no line of sight to supply and demand balancing.

Player impact: RAM, SSDs, GPUs, and consoles all use this memory, so upgrade prices are unlikely to drop soon. If you are planning a PC build or a console purchase, buying sooner probably beats waiting for a 2027 deal.

Sources: VGC

Micro Center Makes RTX 5090 Buyers Show ID and Sign a No-Export Pledge

A Reddit user reported that Micro Center in Tustin, California made them sign a one-page form and scan their driver's licence before buying an RTX 5090, Kotaku reported on October 3. The form asks buyers to state their intended use, give a home address, promise not to resell or give the card away, and keep it in the United States, stamped "NO EXPORT - NO EXCEPTIONS". Other buyers reported similar checks, which appear tied to US export limits on GPUs.

Player impact: Buying a top-end Nvidia card in the US can now mean ID checks and a resale promise. If you upgrade often and sell old cards, read the paperwork before you sign.

Sources: Kotaku

📦 Other

GTA 6's Pulled PEGI Rating Describes Decapitation, Cocaine on Demand, and Sex Scenes

PEGI, Europe's age rating board, published and then removed a detailed PEGI 18 listing for Grand Theft Auto VI on October 3, VGC reported. Screenshots show it described realistic decapitation and dismemberment, "frequent and prominent" drug use including cocaine the player can snort at any time, nudity, and scenes of intercourse. Rockstar has not commented. The ESRB already rates the game M, and it launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Player impact: This is the most specific look yet at what GTA 6 lets you do, weeks before launch. Parents and streamers should note it: some of this will trip Twitch content rules on day one.

Sources: VGC · Gamereactor

Kingdom Come's Warhorse Wants GTA 6 to Make $80 the New Normal

Warhorse Studios co-founder and COO Martin Klima told VGC on October 2 that he hopes GTA 6's $80 standard price gives other big studios cover to raise prices, calling a price rise "long overdue" and saying everybody is "scared to death" of it. GTA 6 costs $80, or $100 for the Ultimate edition, which Take-Two says is outselling the standard version in pre-orders. The same report cites a survey where 62 percent of engaged players no longer buy at full price.

Player impact: If GTA 6 sells at $80 without backlash, expect other big releases to follow within a year. That makes sales, subscriptions, and waiting for reviews even more important for your wallet.

Sources: VGC

Activision and Bethesda Shut Down AI-Built Modern Warfare 2 and Fallout Projects

Kotaku reported on October 3 that two Microsoft-owned publishers moved against AI-made fan projects in one week. Bethesda allegedly sent a cease and desist over Fallout: New York, a browser game with quests, dialogue trees, and a working Pip-Boy that its creator built with an AI model and pulled on October 1. Activision used copyright claims to take down footage and restrict code from an AI-assisted decompilation of the original Modern Warfare 2 PC source.

Player impact: Publishers are treating AI-built fan games and decompilations like any other infringement, so do not count on these projects surviving. Modders working on classic Call of Duty or Fallout tools should expect takedowns to keep coming.

Sources: Kotaku

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