Minggu Ini Dalam Game Buruk, Tapi Minggu Depan Mungkin Lebih Buruk

While it can seem like every week feels bad in the games industry, this past week felt especially awful. You're not wrong for thinking so, too, and the start of this week wasn't that great either. But what if I told you that it could get even worse? It doesn't sound possible, but trust me, it appears it definitely could.

Let's look at what happened last week.

A week to forget

On June 22, news broke that Ubisoft co-founder Claude Guillemot died in a plane crash on June 19. His brother, Yves Guillemot, paid tribute to the late co-founder in a statement, saying that Claude "helped shape Ubisoft with an entrepreneurial spirit, curiosity, and unwavering optimism." This was quite unfortunate news to start the week.

In the background of this announcement has been the drama surrounding Santa Monica Studios' upcoming action-adventure game God of War: Laufey, with gamers blaming "gender" for the game's narrative decisions despite the PlayStation-owned developer building toward Laufey for almost a decade now.

You also had CD Projekt Red--the publisher, not the developer--talking about how its reputation still hasn't fully healed following the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077, an Ocarina of Time fan project shutting down for fear of "Nintendo ninjas," and the announcement of the Steam Machine's $1,000 price tag--which the internet had a lot of thoughts about.

June 23 came with some bombshell news. Alongside the confirmation that Lords of the Fallen II was delayed to avoid Grand Theft Auto 6's imminent release and an EA executive saying that the company's embrace of AI saw a "real rise of creativity," Rockstar Games announced that GTA 6 won't ship with a physical disc at all. The internet wasn't too happy about this news, and some retailers said they're refusing to carry physical copies of the game now.

Things started to get particularly bad on June 25. News began circulating that the looming Xbox layoffs were about to start, with South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games reportedly being hit first. That same day, Bungie let go of "most" of the Destiny team and "some" of the Marathon staff in a massive layoff. Justin Truman, the head of Bungie, also stepped down after less than a year on the job. And then, Microsoft announced that Xbox consoles will get a price hike in August, and hinted at another increase coming in 2027 or 2028--capping off a bad day with worse news.

Now fast-forward to the last couple of days.

The bad news snowball

On June 29, Activision began promoting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4--which drops on October 23--by reminding you that it won't launch on Xbox Game Pass during its first year. This isn't necessarily new news, as Microsoft announced in April 2026 that new Call of Duty titles won't hit the subscription service going forward. However, it's still a blow when the last two entries--Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7--both landed in the vault day-one. Now, if you want to play Modern Warfare 4 or any new Call of Duty, you either have to pay full price for the game or wait one full year if you have an active Game Pass subscription. It's odd, considering Microsoft acquired Activision--and Call of Duty--for $69 billion in 2023, but the decision could be because putting the mega-hit military shooter on Game Pass came at a loss.

On the same day, Sony tried to temper expectations for the PlayStation 6, clarifying that it won't sell hardware at a "significant" loss anymore. Basically, the company is warning that the PS6 won't be cheap at all. On the other side of the coin, reports came out that the Xbox-owned studio Undead Labs, developer of the State of Decay franchise, is at risk of closure. (It's worth noting that several other Xbox Game Studios, like Double Fine and Ninja Theory, are also at risk unless a buyer is found.)

Microsoft came with even more hits on June 30, as Hitman developer IO Interactive suffered layoffs after funding was pulled from the studio's in-development fantasy RPG. As if things couldn't get any worse that day, a report suggested that Microsoft may shutter the Blade developer Arkane Studios and cancel that project entirely. (Hideo Kojima's Xbox-exclusive OD is seemingly safe, though.) While it's smaller potatoes in the wake of the biggest fishes, developer Papergames rescinded its decision to add a new love interest to its action dating sim Love and Deepspace after fan outcry spilled over into the real world.

And just today, July 1, Sony announced plans to end all physical disc production for PlayStation games in 2028--which could mean that the PS6 will be a digital-only console. (Reports suggest Microsoft's next Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, may also be discless.) The move sent the internet into a heated frenzy, but Sony wasn't done yet, as the company also confirmed that the PlayStation Stores for both the PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.

Things get worse before they get ... worse?

As you can see, the last week has been awful, and the last couple of days exacerbated that badness. But things aren't looking too great if we look ahead, either.

According to a June 30 report by The Verge, the looming Xbox layoffs will start on July 6. The full number of impacted staff is unknown right now, but rumors suggest that the aftermath could end with at least 1,500 laid-off employees. Ahead of these cuts, unionized Xbox workers are calling for protections to shield themselves from these executive decisions.

There's that ancient axiom: Things get worse before they get better. It's hard to believe that is true when, everywhere you look in the games industry lately, things just look more and more bleak as time marches forward. Maybe the industry will improve, and things will get better. There are, after all, a ton of games to look forward to--particularly in September. But right now, the games industry is looking more like a wasteland than ever before.