Sam's News — gaming — 2026-07-31¶
TL;DR¶
- Nintendo Switch adds Super Mario Sunshine and unreleased Virtual Boy games
- D&D announces World of Warcraft and Star Wars crossover expansions
- Sony stands by disc-free PlayStation strategy despite fan backlash
- Electronic Arts closes $55 billion go-private deal next week
- Xbox revenues dropped $1.7B annually, Asha Sharma predicts return to growth by mid-2027
- Mortal Shell 2 open beta launches on PlayStation and Xbox
Gaming¶
Nintendo Switch adds Super Mario Sunshine and unreleased Virtual Boy games¶
Nintendo expanded Switch 2's GameCube library with Super Mario Sunshine and released two previously cancelled Virtual Boy games through Nintendo Classics.
Sources: Video Games Chronicle RSS, Nintendo Life RSS, My Nintendo News RSS, XBOX Wire RSS, GamesRadar+ RSS, Crunchyroll RSS
D&D announces World of Warcraft and Star Wars crossover expansions¶
Wizards of the Coast announced Dungeons & Dragons' first 'Universes Beyond' crossovers with World of Warcraft and Star Wars coming in 2026 and 2027.
Sources: gameinformer.com RSS, PC Gamer RSS, Variety RSS, GamesRadar+ RSS, The Verge RSS
Sony stands by disc-free PlayStation strategy despite fan backlash¶
Sony reaffirmed its plan to end physical game disc production for PlayStation despite significant customer pushback during an earnings call.
Sources: The Economic Times RSS, Kotaku RSS, Sportskeeda Tech RSS, MP1st RSS, GamesRadar+ RSS, The Verge RSS
Xbox revenues dropped $1.7B annually, Asha Sharma predicts return to growth by mid-2027¶
Xbox revenues declined by $1.7 billion year-over-year but new CEO Asha Sharma projects return to growth by mid-2027 after recent reset.
Sources: PC Gamer RSS
Mortal Shell 2 open beta launches on PlayStation and Xbox¶
Mortal Shell 2 open beta is now available on PlayStation and Xbox with progress carrying over to the full release.
Sources: GamingTrend RSS, Video Games Chronicle RSS
Division Resurgence free-to-play game arrives on Steam¶
Ubisoft's The Division Resurgence free-to-play game is finally coming to Steam after earlier exclusivity.
Sources: GAMINGbible RSS
Xbox adds games through August 7 across three console generations¶
Microsoft announced new game releases coming to Xbox across current and legacy console generations through August 7.
Sources: GameGPU RSS
Xbox Cloud Gaming now available on Hisense and VIDAA TVs¶
Microsoft rolled out Xbox Cloud Gaming app to Hisense TVs and VIDAA OS devices, enabling console-free gaming on television.
Sources: Pure Xbox RSS, Engadget RSS
Palworld continues strong with half-million concurrent Steam players mid-week¶
Palworld's lead dev dismissed "dead game" claims as the title maintains half a million concurrent Steam players weeks after 1.0 launch.
Sources: GamesRadar+ RSS
M&A¶
Electronic Arts closes $55 billion go-private deal next week¶
Saudi Arabia's takeover of Electronic Arts for $55 billion is expected to close by August 4.
Sources: Variety RSS, PC Gamer RSS, Engadget RSS, AP News RSS